Gypsy
by QueenieMeanie
Summary: Carolina Castro’s a shy, weary girl who’s just looking for a place to call home. Unfortunately, when she finally thinks she’s found a place to belong, things don’t turn out so well for her. Takes place during X2 PyroOC COMPLETE
1. Three’s One to Many

**:Disclaimer:**

Sad to say, but I don't own any of the X-men characters you recognize. If I did I'd be rich as hell and wouldn't have to write fan fiction. The only character I do own is Carolina Castro, or Gypsy as you'll come to know her, along with a few other characters I don't want to reveal just yet.

**:Warnings:**

This story is rated for language and violence.

**:Authors note:**

Hey all! I know it was a bit of a shock to see that the chapters had been deleted, but I went back and, you know, I just wasn't satisfied with most of the chapters. So, I added a few chapters and tweaked some here and there and I feel a lot better. All new chapters will had **NEW** stamped on them in bold letters and the ones I've tweaked will say **New Material**. I hope you enjoy and in the last chapter, I've added a summary for Gypsy's Curse. Thanks and please review, let me know what you think of the new material, especially the new chapters. Again, thanks and enjoy!

* * *

**-NEW-**

**Chapter One:  
**Three's One to Many

* * *

"_Gyps. Gyps, get up. Please. You _have_ to get up. Get up. NOW!"_

With a sharp gasp and a twitch, I found myself being pulled back into consciousness - when the hell did I even lose it? I wondered, dazed and slightly annoyed. - and was immediately assaulted by pain, pain that seemed to spread throughout my entire body. My head ached, throbbed like someone had decided to use it as a drum and my arms and legs felt weird, tingled and I could tell that I was lying in an awkward position.

I stirred a little, flexing my fingers, making sure I wasn't paralyzed in any way, but kept my eyes closed. I wasn't ready to open them, wasn't ready to face what was going on. From what I gathered though, I was lying on my stomach, face resting on dirt and rocks, and I could hear footsteps and the sound of a car engine in the background….

There was something wrong. Something really, really wrong.

"Oh, man. Oh, man. Dude, she's… oh, man - I'm gonna be sick. She's… is she dead?" Someone asked. Despite my confusion, I found that I recognized the voice and was suddenly filled with panic and dread. "Dude?!" I winched at the shrill of his voice.

"Nah, I don't think so," another voice replied, cool and calm, also male and familiar. And though the tone of his voice didn't give anything away, he was scared too, but not as much as his friend, who was one step away from breaking down. Footsteps approached me slowly and I felt something nudge my leg. I winched at the pain and let out a small groan of annoyance. "See."

"Okay," the guy - the first one who had spoken - sighed, relief flooding through him. It almost calmed me. Almost. But not quite. "Okay, she's alive. Good, so we should get her to a hospital--"

"Are you out of your goddamn mind?" The other snapped, angrily. "What are people going to think when we arrive with an unconscious girl, who looks like - like that?" I had a strange feeling that he was gesturing towards me. I wondered just how bad I looked like.

"We - we can tell them, uh -" he broke from his sentence, cursing. He was beginning to panic again. "We can tell them that we found her on the side of the rode --"

"And then what?" The other shouted, successfully cutting him off. His heart was racing and beating so loudly I could almost hear it. "What do you think she'll tell them, huh? Didn't think of that, did you?"

"Damnit, Ben! I got a scholarship - full ride to LSU!" He stated, sounding as though he were close to tears. His voice was cracking and there was something in his stomach that felt like monkeys doing summersaults. He felt ill. I felt ill. "I can't afford to lose it and go to jail because of this."

"Relax, Danny-boy. You're not going anywhere - neither am I." He said with such ease, such confidence in his voice, it made me feel violent. I clenched my fist, nails digging into my palm, "We'll just take her to that guy - what's-his-face - get our cash and be done with this. All right?"

Fear like no other shot through me and I felt like I wanted to cry.

"_Stay strong_," a voice in the back of my head whispered soothingly. "_It's going to be okay_."

Agreeing, though I felt as though I shouldn't, I gritted my teeth and stiffened to keep myself from shaking uncontrollably. I knew what they were talking about… and then everything seemed to come back at once. All the events that had taken place earlier, that led up to this moment, came back to me and I couldn't contain myself any longer. They were trying to take me back, I realized, eyes snapping open. "No," I muttered, dirt making its way into my mouth but I didn't care. They were trying to turn me in. I wasn't going back. I couldn't.

Pressing my hands flatly on the ground, I tried to push myself up and was unsuccessful. A sharp pain in my shoulder prevented from me from trying again.

"She's awake," Dan pointed out, nervously. He took a couple of steps away from me.

Hands grabbed at me, turning me on my back, not too gently and I found myself staring into the chocolate brown eyes of Ben. "We'll good morning," he grinned and I felt sick. "Or night - whatever." He shrugged. "That was a stupid thing you did back there - jumping out of a moving car, you're lucky you weren't killed."

"I'd rather be dead," I said, somberly. "I can't go back…. Why are you doing this?"

"Well really, I just needed a quick buck," he shrugged. "And I've been told your dangerous," Ben explained as though that justified why he was turning me in to those - those - those people.

"I'm about as dangerous as a fly," I told him.

"…carrying a fatal disease," he finished and if I weren't scared shitless at the moment I would have teased him and mockingly congratulated him on knowing a word like fatal.

"If I were dangerous - I'd have done something by now."

"True, or maybe your just trying to trick us."

"No tricks - I swear. Please. Don't take me back," I pleaded, lowering my voices, but it was useless. It was like talking to a brick wall (even though walls had ears) and when I thought it was no use to even continue begging, I felt something that changed my mind.

"Maybe - maybe we should just, you know, let her go," Dan chimed in, shifting from one foot to the other in a nervous fashion. His eyes were darting around, like he was expecting someone to jump out from behind the trees. The whole thing was a nightmare for him - he just wanted to go home. I could use that to my advantage, I thought, heart racing.

Ben turned away from me to look at his nervous friend, and ran a hand through his sandy colored hair in frustration. I clenched my jaw as he did. "Do I really need to explain to you why we can't?" He spoke as though he were speaking to a child. Dan didn't seem to appreciate it much. "We're in this shit too deep, there's no turning back. Do you understand?"

_This was like something out a movie_, I thought in horror. I needed to do something - quick!

"I won't tell," I cut into there conversation, looking between both boys, anxiously. I was still on the ground and extremely uncomfortable. "Please, Ben. I won't tell." He said nothing, but that said it all. He had made up his mind - there was no turning back for him. I bit back a sob and turned to Dan, my only hope. "Please, you don't understand… I'm not dangerous - look at me!" I shouted with wide eyes. "Whatever he told, whatever he said… it was a lie. I'm just - I'm just a girl, a normal girl who wants to go home."

Dan's face softened and I knew I was getting through to him. His face screwed up, like he wanted to cry and then went blank. He felt sorry for me. "Let her go, Ben," he told the taller boy. "We can't do this."

"What do you mean we can't?" He asked, standing up and marching towards him. "What the hell's the matter with you, huh? All we have to do is turn her in and be done. We're so close."

"We can't," Dan repeated. "It isn't right. We can't give her to them, they'll kill her."

"You don't know that!" Ben argued, spreading his arms out in exasperation. "Either way - who the hell cares, huh?" His voice was shrill now, boarding hysterics himself. "It's one less _freak _to worry about!" He added and at his words a deep anger surged through me and then he was suddenly on the ground.

I looked up at Dan, pushing myself off the ground, wide eyed and open-mouthed. Dan stood over his friend, who was slowly recovering from the assault, chest heaving and fists at his sides. A look of confusion spread across his face. He had just lashed out at his best friend, raised his fist and punched him square across the face and he had no idea why, but I did and I wasn't going to tell.

"_Don't just lie there like an idiot - move!"_

I really didn't need to be told twice and, with whatever energy I had left, I managed to push myself up and stumbled away into the woods. I hoped that the confusion I caused between the boys would buy me enough time to escape…. And it was then that I realized I didn't know where the hell I was, where I was going or how I was going to get there. I was hurt, bleeding and tired.

I didn't know how the hell I was going to make it out of these woods alive and in one piece.


	2. The Gypsy and The Wolverine

**-New Added Dialogue & Scene -**

**Chapter Two:  
**The Gypsy and The Wolverine

* * *

I wasn't entirely sure just how long I had been running - felt like forever, dragging on - but I knew that I wanted to stop.

"_Don't stop now, Gyps. You're not a quitter - keep running_!"

_Easy for you to say. You're not the one running, _I snapped. "I can't - I can't run anymore," I murmured, feeling dizzy. My chest felt like it was on fire. My sides hurt so badly - I wanted to cry and I had the worst headache, but I suppose that it was what I deserved for being so out of shape. I silently prayed that my legs would get me as far as possible - to safety, hopefully - before they decided to collapse underneath me, which I was sure they would do soon. I made a mental note to join some kind of gym, if ( "_When_." I was corrected. "_Not if_." ) I made it out of this mess alive.

"Oh, Caroline," a voice taunted me, and by the sound of his voice, he wasn't too far behind me. "Come on, Caroline - don't be like this!" He shouted, getting closer, moving fast.

A noise, that strangely sounded like a growl, escaped me. "It's Carol_ina_, you bastard!" I shouted back through gritted teeth. I was fully aware of the fact that ( it was really stupid of me to shout at him when he was chasing me) I hadn't gone to school with him for long, but one would think that remembering the correct pronunciation of someone else's name would be… polite… even if they were about to do something that wasn't.

Pushing the thought aside, I concentrated on my running and managed to dodge a tree branch that I hadn't noticed before and jumped over a small log in my path. I stumbled a bit but kept running. From behind me, Ben laughed. My cheeks burned but not from embarrassment. I didn't care though. I didn't care about anything, except getting out of these woods alive, but I still didn't know how.

"_He's getting closer. Move faster, come on, Gyps. Move. Make me proud! The roads not too far ahead, if you could just make it out of these woods… I promise - you'll be safe. Someone will come along the moment your feet hit the pavement_."

"How can you possibly know that?" I questioned the voice in my head. Questioned everything about it, sometimes. I wasn't really sure what "it" was - my conscious? Or maybe a figment of my twisted imagination? I honestly didn't care. Not anymore. When it spoke - voice tangled and distorted, couldn't really tell if it was male or female - I learned to listen. Somehow, someway it always managed to get me out of tight spot situations, but this time… I felt a little doubtful. "How do you know that I'll be safe?" I shouted, feeling hysterical. "I'm lost!"

"_Just keep moving forward. You'll be okay._" Voice, or V as I liked to call It on occasions, said, sounding a little annoyed that I was question It again, but still concerned all the same about my well being.

"Oh, come on, Caroline! Come back - I'm not going to hurt you - I promise!" Ben called out after me. I could hear twigs on the ground snapping underneath his shoes as he continued to run - like a predator chasing its prey. He was catching up, of that I was sure, and probably not as tired as I was. He was on the track team after all and it surprised me that he hadn't caught up to me yet. I could _feel_ his adrenaline. It fueled mine, helping me along. He was teasing me, letting me think that I could get away. Letting me dwell on how this whole mess would play out in the end.

_I wont let him take me back_, I thought darkly. _Not alive_.

"_Hey_!" V shouted, voice echoing in my head. "_Don't think like that. You're going to make it. Keep going_."

"You keep saying that," I coughed, struggling to keep my breathing steady, but it was impossible. "I'm so tired." I narrowed my eyes. It was hard to see in the dark. The only light guiding my way was the moon and the starry sky. _Great, I'm freaking poet now. _I thought to myself, almost rolling my eyes in annoyance.

Despite being tiredI kept running, but tripped on a tree root. Caught off guard, I cried out in surprise and stretched my arms out in front of me, hoping to catch myself but failed. Clumps of dirt filled my mouth and my hands scraped themselves against the dirt and jagged rocks. I cried out in pain.

"_Get up, get up_!" V urged frantically.

"I can't. I can't!" I cried, face screwing up. I tried to get up, but couldn't. I cursed underneath my breath. This was not happening to me! I wasn't some stupid bimbo from those horror movies!

In the distance I vaguely heard the sound of an engine and saw bright light beams. Oh - a car!

"Caroline!" Ben shouted and I hesitated.

If I got up now - he would see me and grab me before my feet even hit the pavement. So, I dragged myself behind a tree, pressed my back against the rough wood and held my breath as best as I could. Footsteps rushed towards the area where I was hiding. They slowed down and heaved a heavy sigh.

"Where the hell did she go?" He asked himself, looking left and right. I pressed myself even further against the tree, scraping my back and winching at the pain in my hands. I closed my eyes, willing the world to stop - it didn't of course, but a girl could hope. "Caroline!" He shouted. I shuddered. "When I find you--" he stopped talking suddenly and took off. I sighed in relief and counted to ten before I checked to see if the coast was clear. He was gone.

Another car passing by caught my attention and I hesitantly moved towards its direction, my heart beating so fast, so hard that I was almost afraid it would pop out of my chest. I was so happy, so relieved --

The wind was knocked out of me as someone from behind tackled me to the ground, forcefully. Shocked by the sudden impact and the rush of emotions - how could someone be so damn proud and excited and impatient about this? - I was temporarily blinded. I closed my eyes and gasped harshly, but could barely breathe. The body on top of mine was crushing me and making it hard for me to breathe. Behind closed lids, I could see a flash of blood, but didn't understand how that could be - my eyes were closed! I quickly brought a hand to my nose. It hurt like it had been broken, maybe the impact had done it, but when I opened my eyes and looked my fingers - they were covered it dirt. There wasn't any blood.

"Not my blood," I realized, blinking.

"And where do you think your going?" Ben asked, cockily and even though I couldn't see his face, I knew he was grinning like a madman. The predator had finally caught his prey - his scared prey. He got off me, suddenly and a gush of air made its way into my lungs. Hands grasped my shoulders and turned me on my back, pinning my arms above my head. I blinked several time, trying to get my vision straight. When I finally did, I saw him staring down at me. "Thought you could get away from me? What did you do to Dan?" He asked, shaking my violently.

I groaned from the pain, too scared to try to free myself from his grip. He was bigger than me, more built. Faster. Stronger. "I - I didn't do anything," I whispered.

"Liar!" He shouted, through clenched teeth. He was angry, scared and confused. It was a bad combination if I ever saw one. People like that were unpredictable. "You did something - he's acting different, afraid. Had to knock him out for a bit…" he trailed off. "I'm not gonna ask again - what the hell did you do to him?"

I ignored his question. "Please, Ben, just leave me alone. If you let me go - I'll leave here and I won't tell anyone what happened," I promised, trying to reason with him.

"Of course you're not going to tell anyone," he said, seeming to consider my proposition for a moment. My spirits lifted a little, but was then stomped to the ground and stepped on when he shook his head. "Don't matter who you tell - they can't do anything about it. You'll be back where you belong and everyone will think that you've just run away from home," he smiled as though he thought the plan was flawless and maybe he was right. Who would truly miss me if I'd gone? _Gwen and Owen, _came the answer. No, I shook my head. All I cause is trouble… they wouldn't miss me at all. Ben's hand wrapped itself around my neck, but not too tightly. He just wanted my attention. "You know from this angle - you're kinda … cute." His face was so close to mine at this point, I could smell the whiskey on his breath. I felt violently ill when he began to tug at the hem of my shirt.

_No_! My mind screamed when I realized what he was trying to do. I narrowed my eyes, trying to focus.

"_That right, Gyps - concentrate. Don't let him win, but you gotta move fast if you want to survive. Your ticket to safety is approaching fast and unless he sees you - he wont stop_."

I pushed back all my emotions and focused on his - the disgust and lust. I would have thought it funny in a different situation. I tried to concentrate, but was too disorientated. My head was pounding. I kicked at him.

"Don't be like that," he soothed, pushing my hair away from my face. "You know, they said that they wanted you alive, but they didn't say anything about in what condition." As he spoke I could hear the sound of fabric ripping. I knew it was from my shirt. I tore my eyes away from his and looked over his shirt, eyes unseeing as he lowered his face to mine. I shut my eyes thinking he was going to kiss me, but when I felt his tongue graze my earlobe I wanted to gag and I began to struggle, though part of me urged to stop and give in. "Don't fight me," he said. "Don't. You may be a freak, but that doesn't mean we can't have some fun, huh?" He asked, body covering mine now.

I arched my back, unintentionally, trying to shove him off - was that what I was doing? - but he barely moved. He let out a throaty moan in my ear. He was aroused. And suddenly, I didn't care what he was doing to me as his hands roamed my body. I really didn't. And, to my horror, I found that - that - that _I was enjoying it_!

"_No_!" V shouted, gaining my attention. "_It's not you! You're feeling what he feels_," V explained and suddenly everything made sense. "_You have to snap out of it_!"

Shaking my head, I let it loll to the side in shame. I closed my eyes, willing the feeling to go away. It was strong - his want - but I managed to push it down. "Please get off of me," I tried to reason with him. "You don't want to do this."

"And why not?" He asked, voice strangely husky. I shuddered.

Trying to keep my voice steady, I replied - "Bad things will happen if you don't let me go." It was an empty threat - I knew that, maybe he did too - but it was worth a try.

"Thanks for the warning, doll." He said, laughing as he picked his head up from my neck. "But I think I'll take my chances," he pushed himself off of me, but still held me down and begun fumbling with his jeans.

"Please!" I screeched, my head tilting back. He hesitated for a moment and I wondered if I had gotten through to him. He looked down at me, confused and then turned back to what he had been doing before. He was unsure now, though, but he wanted dominance over me - to show he was stronger. Some dangerous mutant…. "Please.," I murmured mournfully.

"_Stay focused Gypsy. You have to stay focused. Don't you dare break down on me now! Look, he's barely paying any attention to you; he's too busy trying to get your jeans off - now's your chance_!"

With that said, and a quick flash of what I had seen while I had tried to recover after being tackled, I knew what I had to do. When Ben lowered his face close to mine, I lifted my head off the ground and rammed it, hard as I could, against his nose. He groaned loudly, let go of my hands and sat up, still straddling me. He held his bloody nose with his hands. "You stupid, bitch! You broke my nose!" He cried, hands muffling his voice.

Wincing, I brought up my damaged hands and placed them on the sides of his face. I narrowed my eyes, concentrating. "Come on," I urged, waiting for him to react and just when I was about to lose hope, he jerked back, falling on his ass. I followed, kept my hands his face. "I can do more than just break your nose," I told him, darkly.

He removed his hand from his nose; I saw blood trailing down to his mouth. His eyes were shut tightly and he began to twitch and scream out in pain, holding his head. Before I could cause any more damage, I snatched my hand away and stood up, taking off.

"_That-a girl!_"V cheered. "_Now all you have to do is keep walking - you should be safe now._"

I nodded, trying to shake off the uneasy feeling creeping up on me. A part of me wanted to run towards the road, but the tackle I had received from Ben had done a lot of damage and I was limping, badly. But it was okay - I could see the road in from where I was standing and smiled, relieved. I'd be okay, now. Everything would be… okay. At least for now. All I had to do was wait for whoever it was that was suppose to save.

So caught up in my excitement, when I reached the center of the road, I hadn't heard the footsteps approaching me from behind me. By the time I did - it was too late. Ben had already grabbed a handful of my brown hair and pulled me roughly towards me. I had never felt so much rage before. I tried to grab his wrist, pull my hair out of his hand, maybe hurt him but he grabbed my wrist and twisted it behind my back, letting go of my hair to wrap his arm around my waist.

"Just what the hell are you?" He demanded to know, twisting my arm back more so that I was leaning forward. "It's what you did to Dan, wasn't it? Huh?" When I didn't respond, he pushed my arm even further and I felt something pop. I cried out. The son-of-a-bitch had broken my arm! "I'm going to have fun breaking you," he said, groin bucking against me. "Fun - you and me."

"V!" I cried out, pitifully. "You said everything would be okay - liar!"

_It will - it is… He's coming. Listen. _

"Who the hell are you --" Ben stopped speaking abruptly, turning his attention away from me to the road ahead of us. It was quiet at first and then the sound of an engine could be heard approaching. It got louder and louder, until it came into sight - it was a motorcycle.

I felt myself being dragged away, back into the woods. I shook my head. "No!" I shouted, trying to fight back. This was my only chance, V had said, and I wasn't going to let it go. "Let go!" I kicked, ignoring the pain I felt and struggled harder.

"Stop it!" He snarled, tightening his grip. "Stop moving!"

As I stalled for the motorcyclist, I began to wonder whether the person driving would stop. What if they didn't, what if they kept on going without a second thought? Some people were like that - they didn't care so long as they were safe. But then the person stopped a few feet away from us, turned the engine off but left the light beam on. "What're you kids doin' out here so late?" He asked, voice loud and rough. He stepped off his bike, putting on the brakes as he did. "It's not safe to be out here this time of night." He put his hands on his hip and looked between Ben and me, oddly.

"Please, help me!" I cried trying to move towards him, but Ben twisted my arm again to stop me.

My head jerked back as I stood on my toes.

"Mind your own business, old man," Ben spoke up, despite his nervousness. He wasn't going to let some old geezer put a cramp in his plans. "This doesn't concern you. Just get on your bike and go."

"Let the girl go," the stranger demanded, sounding strangely calm. He moved closer, stepping out of the shadows and into the light coming from his bike. He was tall with strange dark hair that curled up rather than down and was well built, though it was hard to tell because of his leather jacket. He was good-looking in a rough sort of way.

"And if I say no?" Ben asked, mocking the older man. He let go of arm and move it to my neck.

"That wouldn't be very smart of ya." The strange man cocked his head to the side, looking as though he really didn't have time for this bullshit. "Look, kid, I don't want to get rough with ya - it's cute that you think you're all big and bad, but I'll give you to three to let her go."

"What are you gonna do if I don't?" He asked, pressing me harder against him as if for protection. I let out a long sigh when he released my neck, but stiffened when his arm returned and I felt something cool against my neck - a knife.

My eyes widened and I felt sick again.

"One-" the man began counting.

Ben pressed the tip of the blade against the side of my neck and made a small cut. I winced. "Don't come any closer or she's dead." I kept my gaze on a tree in front of me.

"Two-" the man continued, I could hear him walking. Then I heard another sound I couldn't really register, but it sort of sounded like knives clashing against each other.

"Oh shit," Ben cursed softly in my ear, panicked. "Y-you're one of them. He didn't tell me that I had to deal with more!" He let go of me, pushing me forward so roughly, I lost my balance and landed on my arm. I let out a cry and rolled over onto my back, cradling my arm with the other. "I'm out of here," he said, taking off like a scared animal. And the predator loses his prey. For now.

"_You'll be okay now, Carolina. Relax, everything will be fine. He'll take care of you."_

I sniffed, trying to fight off the wave of tears that were building up behind my eyes. _This is so fucked up_, I thought, licking my chapped lips. My throat felt dry all of a sudden and the ache I had felt before returned. My head was pounding, hands throbbed - my whole body did! - and I felt dirty all over for more reasons than one.

"Hey, kid," the stranger called out as he approached me. I had almost forgotten that he was there. "You all right?" He bent down, one knee on the ground and, from the corner of my eye I saw him, reaching out to touch me.

"No - wait!" I cried out, scrambling away from him, head snapping towards his direction and my jaw almost dropped at what I saw. They looked like knives, curved at the very tip, giving them a claw like appearance, but they were connected to his knuckles. My eyes widened. _Oh, wow_.

His eyes narrowed as he followed my gaze. With a grunt, the knives on his knuckles began to shrink, slowly disappearing where they had come from. I watched in a child like fascination and suddenly jumped when he raised his hands in the air. "I ain't gonna hurt ya, kid," he said, quietly, voice firm.

I wanted to tell him that I already knew that. V wouldn't have put me in the newcomer's path if he were a danger to me. I trusted the embodied voice in my head with all my life, now. Despite my constant questioning, I knew that I would be safe… or at least hoped I would be.

"Y-you're a mutant," I pointed out the obvious, stuttering like an idiot.

He shifted uncomfortably. "Look if that's a problem--"

"No, no, no, no, no!" I said in a rush, trying to ignore the look he was giving me - I wasn't crazy, pal! "It's just… I - I mean, you - I'm - me too. Me too," I finally said, frustrated at not being able to come out to him in smoother matter. It felt strange to openly admit it, but it felt so good too. It was freeing. It meant that I didn't have to hide from him. I waited for him to say something. He didn't, so I tried to change the subject. "D-do I look as bad as I feel?"

"That depends," he began, rubbing the back of his neck. "How do you feel?"

"Like shit."

For some reason I was disappointed when he didn't laugh at my attempt at sick humor. I suddenly felt an urge to find acceptance in him. "Well, then that's your answer." He paused for a moment. He looked as if he were debating something in his head. "What's your name, kid?"

I paused for a moment, debating on which name I should give him. "Gypsy," I decided. He raised an eyebrow, giving me a pointed look and I realized why. "My name's Carolina," I sighed, trying to sit up but the pain in my hands stopped me short. When I began to fall back, he immediately placed his hand on my back, trying to keep me steady. I suddenly felt a dull jolt run up my spine and into the back of my head, making it snap back.

Oh, he was so angry… lost - why do you feel lost? Don't you have a home? - and worried at the same time. I shook myself and tried to play it off as if it had been something else that caused my head to snap back. I looked at him, "What's yours?" I asked, trying to ignore the emotions he was sending out unknowingly.

"Wolverine," he replied without hesitation. It was my turn to raise an eyebrow. "But you can call me Logan." He sighed heavily, looking out into the distance. "Sun's about to rise soon…. You're parents are probably worried about you right now."

I looked at him in bewilderment, not knowing whether to laugh hysterically or cry by what he'd just said. _Gwen. Owen. _I shoved the thought aside and shook my head, sadly. "I… I ran away from home." It wasn't a lie, I had run away and for a good reason. Sighing, I lowered my gaze to my hands, they looked horrible and hurt like hell. My whole arm did.

He grabbed my wrists in his hands and looked at my palms, examining them. I tried to pull them away - the pain in my arm was killing me and his pulling on it wasn't helping at all. He seemed to notice my discomfort and placed his hand on my shoulder, the one that was hurt and lightly touched it with his fingers. I winched, sucking in air through my teeth. He nodded, "Maybe I should get you to the hospital--"

"No!" I cut him off, shaking my head and looking at him desperately. "No hospitals. Please!"

He blinked. "Look, I ain't a doctor…" he trailed off sighing and looked away for a moment. "I know a place, know someone, people who can help…. You just have to trust me, okay?" I nodded, torn between feeling grateful and suspicious. I wasn't too entirely fond of doctors

"Okay."

"You're arm - it's dislocated," he informed me. "Like I said, kid, I ain't a doctor, but I can pop it back into to place for ya, pain'll be a lot less worse."

I blinked. "Is - is it gonna hurt?" I asked him, eyes going wide before I even gave the question any consideration. "Duh, stupid question," I laughed nervously, tilting my head back. "Of course it's gonna hurt…. Okay," I finally said, looking back at him, fearfully. I wasn't very good with pain, but I knew that if I left it the way it was it would be bad. "Do it."

He stared at me, hard. "I'm gonna count to three - okay?" He gently grabbed my shoulder with one hand and held my forearm with the other. I shut my eyes tightly, gritting my teeth as I shook. "It's gonna hurt," he said. "But I'll be quick."

"Just do it," I told him, turning my head away. I kept my eyes closed, not wanting to see. This wasn't going to be a pretty site.

"One--"

Pop.

"Ugh - sonava_bitch_!" I cried out in shock. I hadn't expected that - the rush of pain and relief. I gritted my teeth at the throbbing pain, inhaled and exhaled harshly through my teeth as I fell forward. Mr. Logan caught me before I even touched the ground and I buried my head in his chest as I cried. "Liar - you said you'd wait until three!" I shouted, hitting him in the shoulder with a closed fist. "God, that hurt like a bitch!" What I wouldn't give for some painkillers….

"Yeah," he finally said, breaking his silence. I pushed myself away from him, face feeling awfully swollen. "Better?" I nodded, pathetically. The pain in my shoulder had dulled down somewhat. It still hurt, though. "Good. Come on." He stood up, pulling me along with him and helped me to his bike and then took out a bottle of water to handed it to me.

I used it to clean myself. "Where are we going?" I asked him when I was done and he had gotten on the bike. He had told me that I would have to grab hold of him if I didn't want to fall off.

The motorcycle roared to life - "Charles Xavier's school for the gifted youngsters."


	3. Don't Stop and Stare

**-New: Added Dialogue & Scene-**

**Chapter Three:  
**Don't Stop and Stare

* * *

"_Try to stay awake, Gyps. If you fall asleep, you might not wake up. That blow that you took is a lot worse than you realize_."

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes. I really didn't want to open them. "Somehow, I doubt that," I murmured, hoping that Mr. Logan hadn't heard me speaking. V, as much as I hated to admit, was right - I should stay awake, or at least try, but it was easier said than done. My head was still throbbing, hands ached. I felt so dizzy - all I wanted to do was sleep….

"_Stay awake_!"

I jerked a little, opening my eyes and blinking several times, letting them adjust to the brightness of the sun. I pushed myself away from the built man in front of me, staring at the back of his head. It was strange… but around him I could just barely feel what he was feeling. If I did it was faint. When I realized that, I had let myself relax against him. I had been so tired, drained of energy and he didn't seem to mind the closeness. He had stiffened at first, but didn't say anything. I suppose that he was just being polite, playing out his role as the knight in shinning armor.

Tired of staring the back of Mr. Logan's head, I lowered my gaze to my arm, which was now wrapped around and tied my behind my neck for support, like an arm sling to keep it from moving. We had only been a couple of hours into the ride and hit a speed bump that caused my arm to bounce around. I had tried to keep myself from crying out, but failed miserably. He had heard and pulled over onto the side of the road and went into his bag, pulled out a long sleeve plaid shirt and made a temporary sling for me. I was grateful for his shirt, but felt bad. Needless to say, the ride became a lot more comfortable then it had been.

"_He seems like a good guy_," V had said while Mr. Logan tied my arm. I agreed. He seemed a little rough around the edges, but I had a feeling he was a bit of a softy when it came to damsels in distress.

"Hey, kid, how're you holdin' up back there?" I was so caught off guard off by the sound of his voice, (during the trip he'd barely said anything to me) I jumped a little. He turned his head to the side to look at me through the corner of his eye. "D'ya hear me? I asked if you were all right?" He repeated, turning back to face the road.

"Um," I cleared my throat - it still felt a bit sore from all the screaming I had done earlier, even with the water that he had given me. "I'm a little tired, sleepy." I told him, truthfully, trying to speak as loud as I could over the engine. And for some unknown reason, I added - "I don't know what hurts more though - my head, my arm or my ass." I pushed myself away from him again, lifting myself a little and made myself a little more comfortable.

Mr. Logan let out a surprised chuckle and for some reason - I beamed, feeling rather proud of myself for causing it. He didn't seem like the type of guy who laughed very much. I suddenly felt like a giddy school girl. I sighed. I really hated being seventeen. "Well, I can't really do anything about your ass, but I'm sure when we get to the school Jean will take a look at your arm and give you something for that headache of yours."

_Good. I could use an aspirin. Or two. Maybe half a dozen. _

"_You'd overdose," _V pointed out and I rolled my eyes. Spoilsport.

The rest of the ride was silent, except for the loud engine of the motorcycle, which was giving me an even bigger headache. I found myself cloud watching, hoping it would help fight off the boredom and my drowsiness - no such luck there. It only seemed to make things worse but there was only so much I could do. My boredom was short-lived, though, when we finally hit civilization and pulled up into a gas station full of people. "Are we out of gas?" I asked, looking around anxiously. There were too many people.

"Thought we could use a little break," he said, stepping off the bike suavely, eyeing pedestrians as they passed by. He raised an eyebrow at them, frowning and then turned his direction to me. "Need something to haul me over till we reach the school. You want something?" He offered. I shook my head, declining politely even though I was kind of hungry myself. "I'll be back then," he started walking off then suddenly stopped and turned around. "Don't go anywhere. And, do me a favor, watch the bike," he added before turning away.

I glared at the back of his head. "And just where do you think I'm gonna go?" I called out, voice hoarse, but he had already disappeared into the store. I shook my head, clearing my throat as I turned away from him and looked around.

To my utter horror, some people, who were filling their gas tank up, were staring at me and when they saw that I had noticed, they'd turn away quickly and began to whisper. I frowned, shifting in my seat. _They're talking about me_, I thought, embarrassed. I looked down at myself, taking everything in - my clothes, covered in dirt and blood stains, my ruined sneakers and hands. Yeah, I couldn't blame them for staring, but did they have to do it so openly? I kept my eyes cast down, trying to ignore the stares but I could feel them burning holes in me.

"What do you think happened?" I heard a female voice ask from somewhere beside me. If she had been trying to be discreet, she was doing a poor job because I could hear her clearly.

A sigh. "I don't know, Susan, just, mind your business," another voice replied, sounding somewhat uncomfortable. Probably her husband, I reasoned.

"Mind my - mind my own business?" The woman asked in disbelief. "W-what if she's in some kind of trouble, Henry. Did you think of that? Did you see the man she pulled up with?"

"Yes, I did," the man - Henry - said, "And I think that if she were in some type of trouble, she wouldn't be sitting there, staring into space."

"It's called Post-Traumatic Shock," she hissed. "Look at her, poor dear looks like she's been though hell and back…. Maybe - Maybe we should see if she's okay, and, you know, call the police. She looks like she needs to be taken to the hospital."

I flinched involuntarily at the words. I didn't need a hospital.

"Sue, don't --"

Footsteps approached me, slowly and then a voice reached my ears. "Excuse me, honey, are you all right?" I didn't respond. _Please go away_, I thought as she moved closer. _Mr. Logan, what's taking you so long? _"Dear?" She called again. She was standing beside the bike now, staring at me with uncertainty. "Can you hear me?" She was starting to get worried.

I blinked and turned her with much reluctance and found myself looking at an older woman, late forties probably with short black hair and brown eyes. "Yes?"

"Are you all right?"

"Y-yeah, I'm okay. Thanks," I offered a smile, but she didn't seem to convinced.

She opened her mouth to speak again but was cut off by a gruff voice asking, "Something I can help you with?" I whipped my head around, away from the wide eyed woman. Mr. Logan was standing behind me, staring at the woman. In his arm was a brown paper bag.

The woman raised an eyebrow and held her chin a little higher to show that she was not intimidated, but on the inside - she was uncertain, scared… and not just for herself. I felt something in me melt. "Yes," she said, taking a step forward. Her husband moved around their car and rushed towards his wife and held her by the arms. "You can start by telling me what happened to this poor child."

"I don't think that's any of your business, lady," was Mr. Logan's reply and I winced, wishing I was anywhere but here.

"Hey don't talk to my wife that way, buddy." the man - Henry, right? - defended. I had been right, then - they were married.

Mr. Logan raised an eyebrow. "Accident," he offered.

The woman bristled, "And why isn't she in a hospital?" People were starting to stop and stare.

"On our way there," Mr. Logan said. "Just stopped for some aspirin," and to prove his point he pulled out a white bottle and gave it a shake before handing it to me.

"Come on, Sue," her husband said, pulling her away, but she wouldn't budge.

She removed her glaring eyes from the tall, intimidating man and looked at me, eyes softening. "Dear, if you're being held against your will, you can tell me."

I looked at her, stare unwavering and I chose my words carefully. "I'm fine. He's only helping me, I swear. He hasn't hurt me, you don't have to worry."

She didn't seem to convinced but she accepted it either way and let her husband pull her away and into their car. My eyes never left her as she climbed in and she looked out her window at me and I offered her a small smile as she pulled out of the gas station.

"What was all that about?" Mr. Logan asked, leaning against the bike beside me.

I didn't turn to look at him. "She almost lost someone…," I told him, full of uneasy. "She thought… I needed help. She was only trying to help." I frowned, rubbing my temple with my middle and index finger.

"How do you know that?" He asked, voice suspicious. "She told you?"

I shook my head, "No, I felt it."

"You felt it?" More suspicion in his voice.

"Um," I blinked, trying to think of a way to explain. "I'm an Empath." I told him, not wanting to go into further detail on the subject. It wasn't a complete lie - I was an Empath, but there was more to me being able to feel other's emotion.

"Must be rough, huh? Bein' able to feel other people's suffering." There was something in the tone of his voice … I couldn't quite place it.

"Yeah… it is."

"You know," he started and I turned my attention to him. "I didn't want to make a big deal about what happened to you. It's obvious," I shifted in my seat. I had a feeling that he was going to bring it up eventually. "I can't say that I'm not curious, but I know how to keep out of other people's business. The people who work at the school - they're a bunch of busy bodies, they mean well, but they're gonna ask questions."

After a moment of silence, I asked, "Do you think I should tell them?"

He was quiet for a while, probably wondering if I should or shouldn't. He seemed to understand my situation and my embarrassment, even though I hadn't told him the whole story. I felt like I should tell him, I owed him that much after rescuing me, but for some reason I couldn't bring myself to do so. "Only if they ask. You don't have to tell them the whole story if you don't want to."

I nodded, "Thank you."

"Don't mention it, kid."

I shook my head, "No, I mean, thank you... for saving me back there." I swallowed some imaginary spit in my mouth. "If you hadn't come along when you did. I could have been..." I couldn't bring myself to say more. I would probably burst into tears if I had to relive the situation in my head.

Feeling my uneasiness, he reached over and patted my hand and said, again. "Don't mention it, Kid."

"Thanks," I murmured, quietly. And then I realized something. "Hey, do you have to call me 'kid' all the time?"

He looked at me, narrowing his eyes. "No," he shook his head and I smiled. "I could call you squirt," he added with a small smirk. I frowned, raising an eyebrow but said nothing as he began to dig into his brown bag.

"_Look on the bright side, Carolina, he could have given you a worse nickname."_

"Yeah, but did it have to be 'squirt'?" I muttered under my breath, positive that only V could have heard what I had said, but then Mr. Logan had turned to look at me and let out a low chuckle. "You heard that?" I asked, brows raised. "You've got good hearing."

"Comes with the mutation."

"Oh, I see..." I trailed off.

"Kids still like this stuff, right?" He asked suddenly, handing me a candy bar and a brownie covered in plastic. It was my turn to roll my eyes, but I took it appreciatively, muttering a thanks and giving him a small smile. "I know you said you didn't want anything, but you can't take aspirin on an empty stomach."

"Thanks. So, how long is it going to take to get to the school?"

"Not long, we're about an hour away." He looked out into the distance. "We'll be leaving soon."

I sighed, following his gaze. Something in me stirred, couldn't quite place the feeling. I sighed again, taking a bite of my brownie and thinking that things were starting to look up for me.


	4. Good and Bad Impressions

**-New: Added Dialogue-**

**Chapter Four:  
**Good and Bad Impressions

* * *

"Well, Squirt --" I rolled my eyes. "--Welcome to Xavier's," Mr. Logan said, motorcycle slowing down until it completely stopped in front the main entrance of the school.

I sat in awe, open-mouthed and I was pretty sure my eyes were bulging. It hadn't been until we reached the large gates up front that I started to feel nervous. The expression: butterflies in my stomach didn't compare to the feeling.

The school - more like mansion, if you asked me - was huge and had an impressive garden and, on the drive up, I had spotted a pond filled with lily-pads. "Are you sure we're in the right place?" I asked, eyes never leaving the building in front of me. "This doesn't look like any school I've seen."

"I'm sure," he responded and I finally tore my gaze away. "Come on," he said, giving me a half smile. I hesitated. "Need some help getting down?"

I felt the heat in my cheeks rising as I gave him a sheepish smile and nodded. So sue me for needing help. I was short and my thighs for a little numb from sitting so long. Wrapping his arm around my waist, Mr. Logan pulled me down gently and gave me a moment to gain my balance before he started towards the school. I hesitated again, jerking back a bit.

Mr. Logan looked over his shoulder, down at me. "What's wrong?"

"I just…" I trailed off, looking towards the school. I suddenly felt very out of place. "I'm just a little nervous…. What if," I shifted. "What if he doesn't want me here?"

He looked towards the school then back at me. "Who? Chuck?" I raised an eyebrow. "Listen, kid, you really don't have anything to worry about. Chuck's more than glad to have you here than out there, wanderin' the streets, alone." He outstretched his arm and helped me inside the school.

And as soon as we entered the school, excited whispers could be heard all around. "It's Logan. He's back." The excitement and wonder hit me a little too hard and I had to back away, grimacing when a couple of students seemed to notice my presents. Mr. Logan looked over his shoulder to say something to me, but stopped when he heard, "Logan!" I slowly moved, further away behind him, not wanting to be seen by this newcomer. I turned to face the door, my back to his. I didn't want to ruin their reunion. I could feel the excitement.

"You miss me, kid?" I heard Mr. Logan ask, his tone cocky and I could almost hear a smile in his voice.

The girl responded with a sarcastic, "Not really." I looked over my shoulder a bit to get a peak at her. She was my height, maybe a little bit taller. She had long dark hair, except for two thick white strands in the front. I thought it looked cool.

"Mm, how you doin'?"

"I'm okay," she replied, smiling brightly and her eyes twinkled. For some reason, I suddenly felt the urge to hug Mr. Logan to death. I shook that feeling. "How are--?" she stopped mid-sentence when her gaze landed on me. Busted, I thought with a groan. "Hi," she greeted, tilting her head to get a better view of me. She then looked up at Mr. Logan and asked, "Who's this?" Motioning to me with her gloved hand. Weird.

"This," he said, turning his body slightly. "Is Carolina. Carolina, this is Rogue."

I shot him a glare as he nodded, motioning for me to speak. I sighed as my gaze met hers, face still half hidden by my hair. "Nice to meet you," I said, forcing myself to smile.

"Same here," she smiled too, outstretching her hand for me to shake. I hesitated.

"_It's all right. Go ahead."_

I nodded to what V had said and grabbed her hand, mindful of my injuries. I barely felt anything at all. "Rogue's an interesting name," I told her, trying to make conversation. I sucked at small talk.

She laughed a little, "Real name's Marie," she said and I noticed that she had a southern accent. "I just thought Rogue sounded cool so--" again, she stopped mid-sentence, this time it was because she caught site of my injured hand. "Oh, mah God," she gasped, lightly. Her eyes narrowed as she took a step closer to me. "Are you okay? What happened?"

I hesitated. Did I really want this girl to know what happened to me?

"She got into an accident," Mr. Logan stepped in, answering for me. He spoke calmly, but there was still a bit of edge in his voice. "Which reminds me, have you seen-- Who's this?"

Marie shot me a worried look before turning around to face a boy with spiky blond hair and blue eyes. "Oh this is Bobby," she said, introducing him excitedly. "He's my--"

"I'm her _boyfriend_," he said, cutting her off quickly, obviously trying to prove a point. Boys. He extended his hand for Mr. Logan to shake, which surprisingly the older man took. "Call me Iceman." I raised an eyebrow at his chosen name. Couldn't he have picked a better one? Then again, Gypsy wasn't all that great either. I looked down at their hands and noticed, with fascination, that they were turning a shade of blue with a bit of frost. I bit back giggle at Mr. Logan's expression as he shook his hand out of the other boy's grasp.

The boy - Bobby, was it? -- turned his gaze to me. I suddenly felt very self-conscious and looked down at my muddy shoes, trying desperately to hide behind Mr. Logan. Another good looking guy in my presence and I looked like a mess. I have the best luck.

"Bobby," Marie began, her voice light and friendly. "This is Carolina. She's a friend of Logan's."

Slowly, I looked up from my shoes to find that he was till staring at me. "You know, it's not polite to stare," I told him, quietly but in a tone that made it clear that I was annoyed.

He nodded and averted his eyes elsewhere, but didn't say anything. Prick.

"Right," Mr. Logan cleared his voice. "Boyfriend?" He asked, taking the attention away from me. I sighed in relief. "So how do you guys...?"

Bobby and Marie exchanged looks before he said, "Well, we're still working on that."

He didn't say anything, but it was obvious that Mr. Logan understood what they were saying while I, on the other hand, was completely lost. And before any one of us could speak, someone else interrupted.

"Look who's come back--" Everyone's attention, including mine, turned to a pretty black woman with shocking white hair, walking down the stairs. "--Just in time."

"For what?" Mr. Logan asked, eyebrow raised in suspicion.

"We need a baby-sitter," she replied, calmly as she made her way towards us.

"Baby-sitter?" He repeated, taken aback.

The white haired woman laughed, "Nice seeing you again, Logan." He gave a short nod in agreement. Then of course, like everyone else, she turned her attention to me when she noticed me partially hiding behind the bigger man and something in her shifted. "Oh, dear," she muttered, eyeing me. "What happened?"

"Accident," I answered stiffly.

She nodded, "Jean's going to have to check you out before we leave today," she said. Mr. Logan nodded. She gave me a kind, friendly smile and I immediately liked her. "What's your name?" she asked.

I stole a quick glance at Mr. Logan before answering her. "Carolina… but I'm - I'm also known as, um, Gypsy," I added, feeling slightly uncomfortable. I wasn't use to having people pay a lot of attention to me, at least not in a good way.

"Gypsy...?" I heard Marie say, "Cool."

"My name is Ororo Munroe, I'm a teacher here," she said, her smile growing warmer as she held out her hand for me. "It's very nice to meet you, Carolina."

Without checking in with V, I grabbed her hand and almost immediately felt that jolt, the stab of pity and sadness, it was even stronger when she let go and her eyes landed on my hand. "It's nice to meet you, too," I said, in all honesty, but still forcing a smile. It was just what I needed - another person throwing a pity party for me. I blinked, harshly and turned away, feeling a few tears prickling in my eyes.

"Hi, Logan."

"Hi, Jean."

I turned my attention to a tall woman with short, spiked hair, coming down the stairs. She was pretty, I had to admit. "She's Jean Grey," I said, under my breathe.

"Pardon?" Ms. Munroe asked, turning her attention to me. I shook my head dismissively. She smiled again, and then turned to Jean as she approached. "Before we leave, you may want to take a look at Carolina," she placed a hand on my shoulder and took a lot for me not to yell out in pain.

Jean walked towards me and offered me a smile, which I hesitantly returned. My cheeks were beginning to hurt from all the smiling, real or not. "I'm sure you'll want to get cleaned up first before I take a look at your arm and cuts?" It wasn't much of a question, but I was happy as hell she offered. I probably smelled. I nodded, gratefully. Her gaze left mine after a while and shifted to Mr. Logan, who was staring at her too.

They stood quietly, just staring. I blinked. And, out of curiosity, I let my hand brush against his and I could feel this happiness and, um, lust. My eyes widened - Mr. Logan seemed to have a crush. I snickered a little, looking between the two. Dr. Grey's eyes met mine and the corners of her lips twitched, forming a small smirk.

Had she heard me? No...

"Uh, I should go... and get the jet ready," Storm spoke awkwardly, breaking the uncomfortable silence. "It was nice meeting you, Carolina. We'll have to talk when I get back," I nodded and watched her walk away.

Bobby spoke next, "Yeah, well it was good to meet the both of you," he said, grabbing Marie's hand, trying to pull her away. "Come on, let's go," he told her, tugging at her arm, but it seemed like she didn't want to go with him.

I bit my lip, trying to keep myself from laughing. "It was nice meeting you," she said to me. "Bye Logan. I'll see you later!" She called out as her boyfriend successfully managed to pull her away.

"Okay," Mr. Logan replied, nodding in her direction as I waved. With everyone else gone all that remained was him, Jean and me. Can you say awkward?


	5. Sing Me a Lullaby

**-New: Added Dialogue & Scene-**

**Chapter Five:  
**Sing Me a Lullaby

* * *

"_Gyps. Seriously, stop it. Dr. Grey is just trying to help and you're making things really difficult for her."_

With a grimace and a long sigh of defeat, I muttered, "Sorry," and remained quiet, swinging my legs back and forth over the side of the examination table. I shifted a little, trying to get comfortable as I could - the table was cold, hard… unwelcoming, but I realized that it wasn't just the table making me feel uncomfortable.

It was the way she looked at me, examining me with curious eyes. It kind of made me want to cry. I felt ashamed of the way I looked. I knew that she wasn't doing it on purpose, but it didn't stop me from feeling any better.

"There - all done," Dr. Grey announced as I made my final sound of protest when she finished applying the last of the stitches I had needed. Apparently V had been right - the blow to the head that I took was a lot worse than I thought and I needed a few stitches. "That wasn't so bad was it?" She asked, moving from behind me as she took off her latex gloves.

"Easy for you to say," I told her, sulkily. "_You_ were the one doing the poking and prodding." I shivered involuntarily when she began to put a white cotton cloth bandage around my head. "Am I really going to have to walk around like this?" I asked, touching it gingerly.

"No," she said, walking over to a cabinet and pulling something out. She turned to me and I saw that she was holding a black skull cap. "Here you go," she said, putting it on for me as my hands were pretty useless at the moment. "No one will notice."

"Thanks," I said, smiling a little as I adjusted it. It was sort of loose on me, fell over my eyebrows but it was okay. I suddenly felt guilty. "I'm sorry. I just don't like doctors," I admitted to her when she pulled out a penlight and flashed it in my eyes.

She dropped her hand. "I'm sorry to hear that." She placed the penlight in her pocket as she walked over to a table near by, grabbed a white band aid and walked back towards me.

"No offense to you, Dr. Grey," I said, lifting my head as she placed her hand under my chin. I avoided eye contact with her as I spoke. "It's just… I have a bad history with doctors…" I felt the need to explain my dislike of Doctors to her. So that she wouldn't take it so personally.

"_That's the understatement of the year."_

I furrowed my brows, willing myself to keep my mouth shut. I didn't want to talk out loud to V at the moment. I didn't want to appear crazy.

Dr. Grey smiled understandingly as she tucked some of her red hair behind her ear. "It's all right. Most people do." She shook a step closer to me, placing the band aid on the side of my neck, where Ben had pressed his knife against me too hard. Stupid bastard. "You've got a lot of wounds, but I've managed to disinfect the major ones."

My wounds, as she said, consisted of - a busted lip (really nothing to cry over), a messed up knee, my hands, from when I fell and dragged them along rocks, were covered in a beige bandage and the side of my neck as mentioned before, along with a few cuts and bruises here and there. Turned out my arm wasn't broken, just dislocated as Mr. Logan had said. She'd given me a shot, so that it wouldn't hurt too much, but said that I still needed to wear a cast for a while.

_It'll heal eventually._

Nodding, I let my eyes slide down to my socked feet. I had been allowed to get cleaned up before she began to treat my wounds. I had also changed out of my original clothes. I had been given gray sweatpants, a white t-shirt and a pair of socks. My old clothes had to be thrown away; they were too dirty, bloody and torn. Disgusting.

When my eyes met Dr. Grey's, I found that she had been staring at me intently. I raised an eyebrow. What was it with these people? All they did was stare.

I shifted a little. She was beginning to make me nervous and I felt something… like something tugging at my mind… blinking, she cleared her throat, "That voice inside your head - how long have you been hearing it?"

I nearly fell off of the table when she asked me that question. "You can hear it?" I asked, my hear thumping hard against my chest. She could hear it? So I wasn't crazy?

"_You've never been crazy. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise. You hear me? Never." _V spoke firmly, it knew my history and my touchiness on the subject of being crazy. "_And she can't really hear me, but she can sense me. She knows that there's more then one mind in your head. It's hard to explain. She's a telepath." _

"You can read minds?" I asked, incredulously. I had never met a telepath before. To tell you the truth, I didn't know there were any around. I hadn't met many mutants in my life. So if she could read minds that meant that she had probably been eavesdropping. I frowned, "You know it's not polite to break into someone's mind and read their thoughts."

She smiled again, sadly this time. "So I've been told, but it can't be helped at the moment. Sorry."

"Yeah, how come?" I was curious. Why couldn't she keep out of my thoughts?

She shook her head, "Tell me about the voice in your head." I was a bit relieved that she hadn't asked me how I got my wounds. She had before, but I told her I didn't want to talk about it. She had probably read my mind anyway. "How long have you been hearing it?"

"For a while now," I admitted, feeling a little relieved that I had someone besides V to confide in. "I'm not sure, it just came from nowhere…"

Nodding, she brought her hands up, nearly touching the side of my head. I jerked away from her, "What are you doing?"

"I can't really communicate with it, Sweetheart," she brought her hands up again. "I need to see if the voice you're hearing is apart of your mutation."

"I'm an Empath," I blurted out. Being an Empath meant that I could feel others emotions and, if I wanted, or if it was too great, they could feel mine as well. I could also manipulate their emotions, which would explain Dan's abrupt change and Ben's pain.

"An Empath?" She asked, looking some-what surprised.

Nodding, I pushed her hands away, not forcefully; they had been hovering around me. "I don't think breaking into my head is a good idea."

She sighed, "I wouldn't ask to do this if it wasn't necessary."

"_It's okay_ - _let her in_."

"Okay," I sighed, long and heavy. "But don't say I didn't warn you."

Without another word, she brought her hands up again, her eyes starting into mine. "Don't move," she said and I fought the urge to push her away from me. She was making me feel very uncomfortable. She closed some of the space between her hands and my head, barely touching my ears. I felt a small tug, like before, than it grew stronger. My eyelids felt heavy. I could barely keep them open….

It was dark. I could hear voice, couldn't make out what they were saying… and then images began to appear. Most were fuzzy, quick and probably wouldn't make sense to someone who hadn't been there. They slowed a little. I could make out some of the faces of the people standing around me, men and women wearing white lab coats. Doctors and nurses. Two male nurses were holding me down… a doctor was injecting me and I was thrashing around.

"This wont hurt a bit," he said, lowering the needle into my arm.

"No," I cried, reaching out, grabbing someone's wrist in my hands. A burst of emotions hit me, full of pain and disbelief. My head jerked back as if someone were pulling my hair and I felt a sharp blow to me stomach making me double over. I felt as if I had been stabbed. There was fire and destruction everywhere. I gasped loudly, opening my eyes and saw that I was bleeding.

"_Let go of Dr. Grey_!" V shouted.

I hadn't realized that I was still holding on to her wrist. I quickly let go and looked back at my bloody white t-shirt. The blood was gone. "Not my blood," I breathed. It hadn't been my blood.

Could it have been hers?

"Are you all right?" She asked, worriedly. I could feel it and see it written on her face. I knew she wanted to reach out and touch my shoulder, but she knew that I was vulnerable right now.

"Carolina, are you all right? What did you see?"

"How did you know that I…?"

"What did you see?"

"Blood," I admitted, trailing off, a lump in my throat was beginning to form. "Something bad is gonna happen" I said, looking her straight in the eyes.

"You can feel it?" She asked, lowering her voice. I nodded. She sat down and looked at me with this haunted look in her eyes. "So can I."

X . X . X . X . X . X

"Clairvoyant" wouldn't exactly be the correct term for what I was. Being an Empath often times allowed me to catch glimpses of a person's future through their emotions. It was always reflected on me. Sort of how I saw the blood on my shirt or back in the woods with Ben.

V could often times block other people out, but not always. And it was beginning to wear me out so much so that I could barely concentrate.

That's why I was so surprised when I bumped into the built, handsome, Russian young man, who Dr. Grey had left in charge of seeing me to my new room for the time being. He was tall, very tall, dark hair and blue eyes with a square jaw. "Sorry," I muttered. "I didn't mean to b-bump into you." Though he was tall and looked kind of intimidating, at first, I'd come to notice that he was a bit shy. My neck hurt from looking up at him. I was a hobbit compared to him.

"Is your arm all right?" He asked, showing concern on his face, brows furrowed.

I looked down at my arm, it throbbed a little, but I didn't want him to worry. "It's fine no worries." He nodded and began to walk along side of me. There was an uncomfortable silence between us. Sighing loudly, I cursed myself for not being able to start a conversation, but I couldn't really be blamed. I hadn't been around a lot of people for a long time so it kind of made it hard for me to be able to make friends. I was defensive, shy, clumsy and often times rude. Not the best combination. "So um… what's did you say your name was?" It was the stupidest thing to ask, but I had trouble remembering things.

My memory sucked.

Still walking, he looked down at me, smiling for the first time since we left Dr. Grey. His face looked much friendlier when he smiled, more handsome too. I was grateful I didn't look as bad as I did when I first came into the school, but the bandages on my forehead and neck still made me more self-conscious then I already was, still the sulk cap hid it well. Not to mention my slightly swollen lip and my limping. "Piotr Rasputin." He answered in his accented voice. "You may call me Peter, if you like, or Colossus."

I nodded, taking notice of all his names. "Which one do you prefer to be called?" I asked, looking up at him.

"Piotr."

"All right, I'll call you that." It went a little silent again, but I wanted to keep the conversation going. He seemed like an interesting guy. "What can you do, if you don't mind me asking?"

He stared forward, waving at a few kids who passed him along and stared at me a bit before taking off. Brats. "I posses the ability to transform into organic steel, it allows me superhuman strength and endurance." My jaw dropped a little. I was tempted to ask him if he could show me, but stopped myself from doing so. "I can also draw," he added as an afterthought.

This surprised me. Maybe he was a gentle giant. "You can?" he nodded. "I've always wanted to learn how to draw." I sighed, wistfully. "I kind suck though. Most of my stuff comes out as stick figures, but even they look wonky."

He laughed and, like before with Mr. Logan, I felt proud of myself for being the one to cause it. "I'm sure your drawings aren't so bad."

I shrugged, "If you say so, but I'm positive they are. Will you show me some of your work?" I asked, almost sounding like a little kid. He seemed surprised by my request. Hell, even I was a little shocked. I'd never been very outgoing, but there I was asking him to let me see some of his drawings… that blow to the head must have messed me up worse then Voice and I thought.

"If you wish," he nodded, leading me down a hall, towards the room I was suppose to be staying in. "This is your room," he said, opening the door, allowing me to go in first. "Kitty will be along shortly to bring you some clothes."

Nodding, I entered the room and began to look around. The room was small and cozy, something I wasn't very use to, with a bed big enough for one person, night table beside it with a lamp, and a window next to a body length mirror. The walls were painted white. It was the only thing I didn't like about the room. I turned around to face Piotr, who was still standing by the door, hand on the handle. "Thank you."

He smiled again, his blue eyes brightening. "Rest well, I will see you later." He shut the door behind him as he left the room. Suddenly I felt very lonely, but then again I always did.

"_I'm here. You're not alone."_

"Thanks, V," I said, moving towards the bed and sitting down. I picked up a fluffy pillow and placed it on my lap.

"_How do you feel?"_

"I don't know." I didn't know how to feel. So many things had happened in such a rush. I was attacked, saved and brought to a school where I didn't know anybody…less then 24 hours. I wanted to laugh, scream and cry. I buried my head in the pillow. "I'm going to be okay. These people will protect me." I said, wondering vaguely if I was trying to convince myself or V. It had been very quiet after Dr. Grey broke into my mind. I wondered how much she saw.

"_She saw enough to understand you."_

"Yeah… maybe she saw enough so I won't have to--"

"Hi, there!" A voice called out, cutting me off. I picked up my head from the pillow and let out a surprised yelp, falling off the other side of the bed. I groaned in pain. "Oh my God, I'm so sorry!" The phantom girl said, coming around the bed to help me up.

I moved away, "No, don't touch me." I picked myself up and, with my good arm, placed a hand over my chest trying to steady my breathing. "Where the hell did you come from?" I asked the girl, who seemed to be a little younger than me. I didn't like people sneaking up on me. "I didn't hear a knock or the door open."

As she opened her mouth to speak, the bedroom door opened. A boy, around my age, walked in. He was taller then me, brown hair and eyes. _Great another good looking guy_. What the hell! His eyes shifted to me sitting on the floor to the girl placing some clothes on the bed. "What's going on?"

Ignoring the boy, the girl turned to me. "I'm so sorry. I thought Peter told you that I was on my way over here."

"You're Kitty?" she nodded. "He did tell me, but I though you'd knock or, at least, let me know that you were coming in," I finally got over my shock and stood up, still conscious of the boy standing a few feet away from us. "How did you get in here anyway?"

She bit her lip, "Why don't I introduce myself first. I think we've gotten off on the wrong foot." She stepped towards me and extended her hand, "I'm Kitty Pryde, or Shadowcat, if like. I phase." I must have looked confused because she went into more detail of her power. "Basically I can walk through solid material… people included."

"Right." I glanced down at her hand, hesitantly shaking it. She was giddy and worried. I felt it. She smiled, obviously relieved that I didn't just leave her hanging. "I'm Carolina Castro." I didn't give her my other name and I didn't explain my power. She seemed to notice, but said nothing more.

"Well, Carolina, it was nice meeting you," she said, still smiling. "I got to go, I promised Jubilee, who I'm sure you'll meet later, that I'd help her with some stuff. I'll see you later, okay?"

"Sure," I wondered if everyone in this school was friendly or if I was just lucky to have run into some. "Nice meeting you too." She left the room with a wave, pushing past the boy who was still hanging around the doorway. His eyes were shifting from my arm to the hat on my head. He couldn't see the one on my neck, obviously, because my hair was long enough to cover it.

"Can I help you?" I asked, waving my hand a little to get his attention. I watched him snap out of whatever thoughts he had been dwelling on. Probably wondering how I got hurt. Nosy bastard.

"So," he began, scanning me over with disinterested eyes. I furrowed my brows. "You're the new girl, huh?" His tone was lazy and unimpressed, like he was expecting someone else. Someone more exciting. I felt like throwing something at him.

"_Be nice."_

I rolled my eyes inwardly, "Looks that way, doesn't it?" I asked, picking up some of the clothes Kitty brought up for me. Pajama bottoms, a pair of blue jeans and two shirts with socks.

"Uh-huh," I stopped playing with my new clothes to see that he had made himself comfortable by leaning against doorframe, one arm tucked under his armpit, the other holding a Zippo lighter. I vaguely wondered if he was a smoker and if he had a cigarette on him at the moment. "Name's John… they call me Pyro," he paused for a bit as if waiting for something. "And you are?"

I guess he hadn't been paying attention to Kitty and me when I was introducing myself to her. I was getting tired of giving out my name and talking. "Carolina," I finally said. "Nice to meet you, John."

He nodded, beginning to play with his lighter, flicking it open and close. "You got another name?" Weren't these people ever satisfied with knowing one of my names?

"Gypsy," I replied, narrowing my eyes a little, daring him to make some kind of smart ass comment about it. I wasn't usually this defensive, something about him made me though. He was giving off weird vibes.

"What kind of powers you got, Gypsy?"

"It's Carolina, if you don't mind," my brother was the only one who was allowed to call me by my mutant name, mostly because he was the one who gave it to me. Voice and Mr. Logan as well, because they earned the right to do so. "And I'd rather not talk about it," I told him. I didn't like talking about what I could do. Over the years, I had learned that some things were better to keep to myself. _Flick. Click. _I cringed a little; the sound of him playing with his lighter was becoming annoying. "Do you have to do that?"

"Do what?" He asked, looking genuinely confused, but I had a feeling he was playing with his lighter deliberately and it was starting to piss me off. I guess that I had spoken to soon about everyone being friendly in this school.

"That," I said, motioning to the lighter in his hands. "It's kind of annoying. Can you please stop?"

He raised an eyebrow, looking somewhat amused. "You trying to tell me what to do?"

I sighed. "I'm asking you to stop," I frowned a little. "I'm not telling you what to do. There's a difference."

"Uh-huh," he looked unconvinced, but stopped flicking it open and closed. He kept it in his hands though. "Better?" He asked, sounding terribly sarcastic.

Ignoring the way he was looking at me with annoyance, I smiled. "Much. Thank you." It kind of went quiet for a while after that. I hated silence; it gave me way too much time to think about things I didn't want to give a second thought to. "So… what can you do?"

He chuckled a little, but it didn't sound very humorous. "You won't talk about your abilities, but you'll ask about mine?" He shook his head, leaning forward a little and then stood up straight. For a second I thought he might leave, but he just continued to stand there. "Kind of being a hypocrite, aren't you?"

That hurt. It really did, but I did my best not to show it. It was hard though, being an Empath. It was hard to hide how I was feeling. I shrugged, "I was just trying to make conversation." I turned away from him, putting my new clothes onto the nightstand by the lamp. As soon as he was gone, I was going to get changed and get some rest. "Sorry."

He went a little quiet, then sighed. "I can manipulate fire," I heard a click.

I looked over my shoulder, he had opened his lighter. "Can you create it?"

"No," he said, flinching a little. "I can only control it, that's why I carry a lighter," I watched as the fire from the Zippo moved to his hand. I turned to face him, backing up a little. The flame was growing. I didn't like fire. Seeing my expression, he brought his hand up a little, close to his face, puckered his lips and blew the fire out like a candle. His eyes met mine.

"I'm an Empath." He tilted his head to the side a little. I wasn't surprised that he hadn't heard of it before. "I can feel others emotion and they can feel mine if I wanted them to," I sighed when I added, "I can also multiply pain."

"Sounds interesting," he said, eyebrow raised.

I shrugged, "It's not very useful." Just when I touch someone and combine both of our pain. "Not like yours."

"I'm nothing without my lighter," he said, obvious pain and resentment in his voice. I could tell he didn't like admitting that he had to rely on his lighter for his source of power. I nodded, but didn't say anything. "Well I'm gonna go. See you around, maybe," he didn't wait for me to say anything, just shut the door as he left.

"_He's a troubled kid."_

"Yeah, I got that too." My chest was beginning to hurt, my arm throbbed and I had a headache.

"_Maybe you should stay away from him"_

"Why?" I asked, getting into bed. It felt good to be in a warm bed again. I sighed heavily.

_Get some rest_, Voice said softly, it echoed in my ears.

"Okay," I bit my lip, staring at the shadows dancing on the ceiling. I was tired, but I couldn't bring myself to fall asleep. It was still light out, but I hadn't slept in the last 48 hours. "Hey, Voice?"

_Yeah?_

"C-can you sing the song Michael use to sing for Irene? Do you know it?" My eyes stung a little as I spoke my brother and sister's name. "Please?" I just needed to hear something familiar, something soothing. "Please?" I asked again.

"_Hush-a-bye don't you cry, Go to sleep-y, little baby." _I chewed on my bottom lip. "_When you wake you shall have all the pretty little horses." _I remember Michael coming into our room, mines and Irene, to sing her to sleep. "_Blacks and bays, dapple grays, Coach and six white horses." _I used to stay up and listen, but pretended that I was asleep. "_Hush-a-bye don't you cry, Go to sleep-y, little baby."_

I missed them both, but I knew I'd never see them again. They were gone and I was alone.

"_You're not alone. I'm here."_

And that did it. I started crying, my shoulders shaking. V continued to sing and it helped, but I kept crying. I hadn't cried in a long time. Not since Michael and Irene died.


	6. Self Defense isnt Murder

**-New: Added and Tweaked Dialogue-**

**Chapter Six:  
**Self Defense isn't Murder

* * *

"_Gyps… Gypsy, wake up."_

Groaning loudly and feeling very annoyed, I turned over on my side, grabbing a pillow from underneath me, in the process, and pulling it over my head, hoping to block out whomever it was trying to wake me. I hadn't been sleeping very well for the last couple weeks and now, for some reason, I was and felt safe and secure. I didn't want to give that up. I just wanted to keep sleeping.

_I said: GET UP!_

Yanking the pillow away from my head, my eyes snapped open and I found myself in an empty, unfamiliar room. _Oh, no. No, no, no, no, no_. Panicked, I sat up and began to look around, my sleepiness wearing off quickly. "W-where am I?" I asked, breathing heavily, hear racing. How the hell did I end up here? Had they found me? "V, what's going on?" My bottom lip was quivering, hand running through my tangled curly hair but stopped when I felt something on my head. I tugged it off. It was a hat. _What? _I pushed the covers off me and swung my legs off the side of the bed, my socked feet touching the carpeted floor.

"_Calm down. Take deep breaths. You're safe…."_

"Safe?" I repeated, the word sounding almost alien. I took deep breaths as instructed, willing myself not to have a nervous breakdown. I looked down at my tingling arm - it was in a cast and my other hand was covered in a bandage. I frowned and slowly, but surely, the events from the previous night came back to me. Ben and Dan… Mr. Logan… Dr. Grey… Xavier's school for mutants… meeting others like me but different. I'd been offered a place to stay, "A home."

"_Are you okay? Feel better now?"_

Nodding, I rubbed my chest and exhaled deeply. Furrowing my brows, I soon remembered that it was Voice who had woken me up from my peaceful sleep. "This had better be good. You know that I haven't been sleeping well for a long time."

"_I know, but it's important. Start getting dressed, I'll explain."_

"Fine." I grabbed the sweatpants I had taken off before going to sleep and sat down on the edge of the bed as I struggled to put them on. The pain in my right leg protested but there was nothing I could do but shift my weight to the other leg, hoping to relieve the injured on from unnecessary pain. "So, what's going on?" I asked V, reaching for my arm sling, which was hanging off the side of the nightstand beside the bed, and struggled to put it on as well and finally placed the skull at back on my head.

"_I'm not exactly sure, but I got a feeling that something's about to go down. I didn't want you prancing around half naked, so I woke you up."_

Rolling my eyes, I muttered, "Gee, how considerate," and adjusted the strap around my neck so that it would feel a bit more comfortable. "So do you know when this- this _thing is _suppose to go down?" I placed a hand over my grumbling stomach. With all the excitement that was going on, I had forgotten to ask if I could get something to eat, the candy bar Mr. Logan had given me hadn't been enough.

"_No idea, sorry. Just be prepared."_

"Fine," I sighed and headed towards the door. "But I think I'm going to go find the kitchen…." I poked my head out of the room and peered, cautiously, out into the hallway, making sure no one was around. I closed the door behind me and made my way down the hall, limping, and stopped. "Now where do I go?" I asked quietly, realizing that I didn't know my way around the damn school.

"_Turn left at the end of this hall and keep walking until you reach some stairs." _

"Thanks," I muttered, trying to be as quiet as possible, hoping that I wouldn't bring any unwanted attention to myself. When I finally reached the staircase, I frowned, wondering how the hell I was going to get down with out hurting myself. I was tempted to slide down, but thought better and hopped down every step instead with my left leg while holding the rail for support.

Like I said before, I rarely questioned Voice; somehow it always knew where to go and always got me where I needed to be. When I reached the bottom step, I looked around. The place was deserted from what I could tell. I wasn't surprised. It was probably past midnight or later. Everyone was probably still asleep. I walked slowly, taking everything in. I could hear muffled voices and static coming for a room nearby. Was someone else awake? Furrowing my brows, I walked towards the voices. I stopped when I reached, what looked like, a living room.

There, sitting on a couch in front of the TV, was a boy, much younger than me and as if he feeling someone staring at the back of his head, he looked over his shoulder at me. His round glasses slid down his nose a bit, "Hi," he greeted me, pushing some of his brown hair away from his face.

I couldn't help but smile at him, "Hi." He nodded and turned back to face the television. I chewed on the inside of my cheek. "Isn't it a little late for you to be up?" The older sister in me asked him, "Shouldn't you be in bed?"

He shrugged a little, "Shouldn't you?" He shot back, blinking.

Brows furrowed, my eyes shifted from the little boy to the TV. I noticed that every time he blinked the channel would change. I leaned forward a bit, trying to see if he was using a remote, or something, but found nothing in his hands. Interesting. "I couldn't sleep," I finally said.

Still blinking and changing channels, he replied, "Neither could I."

"Bad dreams?" I asked him, vaguely wondering why I was even bothering to talk to this little boy, who seemed more interested in watching television than talking to me. I didn't blame him. I use to be the same way, but I couldn't remember the last time I was able to sit on a couch in front of a TV. I missed it. I missed being an older sister too.

He shook his head, "I don't sleep."

I wanted to ask him how not sleeping was going for him. I knew that if I didn't get enough sleep I'd be dead on my feet, but I didn't ask … It was then that I realized I hadn't asked the kid's name. Great now I sound like Mr. Logan. "What's your name?"

"Jones," he said, tearing his eyes away from the set in front of him to look back at me. "And you're Gypsy. Or do you prefer Carolina?"

My eyes widened from surprised. Another Telepath? "How did you…?"

"When you come into this school," he began. "Looking like you just got him by a truck with Wolverine's arm around you, people tend to start talking." He gave me a sympathetic smile and turned back to the TV. "There aren't many secrets around here," he said, blinking.

I didn't know whether to be flattered or worried that I was being talked about, but then I remembered the strange looks I had been getting throughout the day. I should be worried. "Right," I said, sighing. "Well, I'll leave you to your channel surfing," my grumbling stomach reminded me of the real reason I was downstairs in the first place. "I prefer to be called Carolina, Jones."

"Okay."

Half smiling, I muttered, "Night," and walked away without waiting for a response. I didn't know if I would get one anyway. Limping down the dimly lit hall, I began to feel a little nauseous. My stomach was still grumbling from hunger, but I also wanted to throw-up.

"_It's because you haven't eaten."_

"I know," the moment I got food in my stomach the sick feeling would go away just like it always did. Somehow one of my curls made its way into my mouth. I began chewing on it, hoping it would distract my mind until I found real food. I stopped walking when I heard two unfamiliar, yet familiar, voices talking to one another. Doesn't anybody sleep around this damn place?!

One voice, sounding rather amused said, "She was on the floor when I barged in. It kind of looked like she was going to have a heart attack or something."

"Not surprised," another voice said, laughing quietly. "I would have freaked out too. Kitty really needs to learn how to knock."

I pressed my back against a wall, trying to keep myself hidden from them. They were talking about me. About the incident with Kitty this afternoon. I guess Jones had been right after all. Word does get around in this school. I couldn't help but feel angry though, not to mention embarrassed. They had no right to be talking about me.

"She doesn't talk very much," the first voice said, his tone flat.

"Yeah, when I saw her, she was trying to hide behind Logan," the other told him. "She's shy I guess."

"Shy? Didn't seem so shy when she was telling me off."

My stomach grumbled again and I froze, placing a hand over my stomach. It had been loud. I wondered if the two of them had heard me, but they hadn't, thankfully. They were still talking amongst themselves, no longer talking about me. I tilted my head back, letting it lean against the wall behind me. Maybe I could walk in, grab something to eat, walk back out and hope that they would ignore me.

"You know, eavesdropping isn't very polite.

Or not.

I jumped away from the wall, surprised to find the boy with the Zippo lighter looming over me, arms crossed over his chest like he was some authority figure to fear. I pulled my hair away from my mouth. "So is talking about someone behind their back," I retorted, trying to meet his glare, but I faltered, too tired to even bother. "I didn't mean to eavesdrop. I was just looking for the kitchen."

Nodding, he moved out of the way, giving me enough room to pass by without touching him, into the kitchen, where I found the boy from this morning sitting at a table… What was this guy's name again? Damn! I couldn't remember either of their names. I needed to start eating fish or something.

"_Bobby and John_," Voice reminded me tiredly.

Uh-huh. Right. Bobby and John.

"Hey," Bobby greeted me, looking up from his carton of ice cream. "You okay?"

"I'm fine," I told him, thankful that he wasn't getting on my case about listening in on their conversation. Even though it was about me. I limped into the kitchen, feeling very ridiculous, supporting myself by grabbing on to one of the counters. "I- I was just looking for something to eat," I said, eyes shifting between the two boys. "I, uh, hope I'm not interrupting you guys…"

"No, not really," John said, flicking his lighter open and close. Jeez, didn't this kid ever stop? "I was leaving anyways."

"I, uh, hope you're not leaving because of me." Why the hell was I even talking to him? If he wanted to go I should just let him go. Besides, he was giving off strange vibes again and they

were making my stomach churn. There was also a lot of anger in this guy, so much bitterness.

He leaned forward a little and whispered, "Don't flatter yourself." He leaned back and smiled, again it didn't look very humorous or that much friendly, "Iceman was getting boring and I decided I didn't want to wake up in the kitchen this morning, so…night." He gave us a mock salute and walked off; leaving me staring at the stop he had been standing in moments before.

I turned to Bobby, who looked a little amused. "Don't mind Pyro," he said, shaking his head. "He can seem a bit jerk-ish when you first meet him, but that's St. John for you." He took a spoonful of ice cream and shoved it in his mouth. "You said something about looking for food?"

Nodding, I asked, "Is there something left over from dinner or… something?" I began limping towards the fridge.

"No," I heard him get up from behind me, his chair scratching against the floor. It made me cringe. "But there's some cereal in the cupboard you can eat." I looked over my shoulder and saw him pulling out two boxes of cereal, "You want Cheerios or Cornflakes?" He asked, holding them up for me to see.

"I'll take the Cheerios, if you don't mind," he nodded and grabbed a bowl from another cabinet, a spoon from a drawer and placed it on the table where he was sitting. I reached for the milk and limped towards him, taking a seat on his right hand side. "Thanks."

"No problem," he said, half smiling.

I made my cereal quickly and began to eat, savoring the sweet taste of honey.

"So, why are you up?" He asked, making me look up from my bowl. One of his brows was raised in a questioning matter, "Couldn't sleep either, huh?"

"I think I slept enough for the day," I told him, shaking my head. "And I was hungry."

"I guess." It went quiet for a while, all that could be heard was the clanging of my spoon against the bowl. I shifted in my seat. I didn't like silence, they made me nervous and uncomfortable. It gave my mind too much time to wander, making me think about things I didn't want to. Thankfully for me he broke the silence. "Listen, uh, about before--" I looked up from my bowl, mouth full of cereal. "-- You know, when you came into the school this morning…" I nodded, letting him know that I remembered. "I'm sorry if I came off like a…" he paused, searching for a good word to use.

"Prick?" I offered, offhandedly.

"_What did I tell you about being nice?" _I decided to ignore V at the moment.

Bobby frowned a little, but nodded. "Yeah… a prick," he cleared his throat. "I didn't mean to stare at you like that… it's just that--"

I smiled, knowingly. "Yeah, I know. I came into the school looking like I had just been hit by a truck with Mr. Logan's arm around my waist," I said, reciting what Jones told me before.

"Yeah," he nodded, glad that I understood in someway. "I'm sorry."

I shrugged his apology off, "It's okay. I just don't appreciate being stared at," I looked down at my arm. "Lord knows I've had enough of that."

More silence and then. "You know, John told me about what happened with Kitty."

I could feel my face flush. "Yeah, I heard you guys talking about it."

"Yeah," he nodded, looking down at his ice cream. "He'd asked me if I'd seen the new girl and then told me what happened," he finished, trying very hard to suppress the smile that was forming on his lips.

The heat in my cheeks grew warmer, but oddly enough I didn't feel too embarrassed. "I didn't mean to react the way that I did," I said, shaking my head as I poured myself some more cereal. "It's just… she walked _through_ the door, you know? Who the hell does that? I - I just got a little freaked out. I'm not used to being around so many mutants I - ow shit!" I winced when I hit my knee on the side of the table.

"You okay?" Bobby asked, worry in his voice.

With a clenched jaw, I nodded. I looked up at him in time to see him scanning my injuries with his blue eyes. He was curious.

"Look, I know it's none of my business--"

"You're right," I snapped, sharply, almost glaring at him. "It's not."

"_You see- that's why you don't make many friends."_

My glared softened completely and I felt my body go limp. I hadn't even realized that I had stiffened up. V was right. I was never going to make friends this way. Swallowing my pride, I muttered, "Sorry. I didn't mean to snap at you like that, but I'd rather not talk about it," I told him, looking myself over. "Not yet, at least."

He nodded, understandingly and looked down at his ice scream. My shoulders slumped. I felt bad for snapping at him, but I had every right to do so. He probably wouldn't want to talk to me after tonight and the thought shouldn't have bothered me, but it did. I wanted friends, wanted people who would miss me when I was gone. To prove Ben wrong.

"_You're a softy. You want to make friends whether you want to admit it to or not."_

I bit my bottom lip, slowly, trying to keep quiet. There was a long stretch of silence between the two of us and my thoughts were beginning to stray down a road I didn't want to go. I opened my mouth to say something to him, but was cut off by heavy footsteps heading in our direction. My spirits lifted when I saw Mr. Logan walk by, looking into the room. He doubled back when he saw us sitting at the table.

"Hey," Bobby greeted him, dipping his spoon into his carton of ice cream.

Mr. Logan gave him a curt nod and then looked in my direction, scanning me over, "Shouldn't you be resting in bed?" He asked, giving me a questioning look.

I shrugged, "Couldn't sleep anymore."

He shook his head, "Doesn't anybody sleep around here?" He asked, heading towards the fridge

The corner of Bobby's lips twitched as he gave me a quick glance, "Apparently not."

"Got any beer?"

I tried not to smile as I stuffed my mouth with Cheerios. "This is a school," Bobby reminded him, sounding and looking amused.

Mr. Logan sighed, "So that's a 'no'?" He asked, looking over his shoulder at both of us.

I shrugged again and gave him a look that stated: 'like I'm really supposed to know.' From beside me, Bobby tried his hardest to contain the smirk that seemed to be fighting to appear on his face. "Yeah, that's a 'no'."

"Got anything other than chocolate milk?"

I snorted a little, dropping my spoon. Trying to ignore the looks I was being given, I covered my mouth and felt my cheeks burning. "There should be some soda in that small cupboard," he told Mr. Logan, motioning to it with his spoon.

Picking up my spoon, I began to eat and when I looked up from my bowl, Mr. Logan was making his way to us with a soda in his hand. It was half way to his lips when he stopped, looking as if he was having second thoughts. His eyes shifted from the bottle to Bobby and he silently handed it to him. Bobby, with a knowing look, didn't hesitate to take it and blow into it a little, blue frost appearing.

I tilted my head to the side, fascinated. It was strange seeing other mutants using their powers so freely. It was actually kind of nice.

"Thanks," Mr. Logan told Bobby, looking the bottle over.

"No problem," he said, shrugging a little.

He took a seat beside Bobby, across from me. I smiled sheepishly, feeling uncomfortable under his unwavering stare. "You clean up pretty good, Squirt," he said, smiling a little as I rolled my eyes at the pet name he'd given me.

"You call this cleaning up?" I asked, raised eyebrow. "I feel like I should be put in some mummy exhibit - look at me I'm covered in bandages, but thanks."

"Everybody teatin' you all right?" He asked, taking a quick glance at Bobby. I guessed that he hadn't forgotten the little exchange that took place between us a couple of hours before.

I nodded, swallowing some cheerios I had been chewing on, "So far, yeah. Everyone's been nice."

"That's good," he took a sip of his drink. "How ya feelin'?"

"Good. Pretty good. My head doesn't hurt anymore, needed stitches - see," I lifted my hat for a little him to see the cloth bandage that covered my forehead. "Dr. Grey gave me something for the pain and yeah, I feel a lot cleaner than before now that I've got new clothes on."

"I bet," he said nodding, his eyes scanning the kitchen. "You'll like it here. Good people, they'll treat you like their own."

I smiled, but didn't say anything and went back to eating.

"How long you been here?" I looked up to see Mr. Logan looking at Bobby, who had been silent throughout our conversation.

"Couple of years."

"And your parents just sent you off to mutant school?" He asked with disbelief in his voice.

Bobby stopped playing with his ice cream and stared blankly into it before answering. "Actually, my parents think this is a prep school." he looked uncomfortable, his eyes shifting around

nervously.

I made a face. So his parents didn't know he was a mutant? Lucky him, but then again not really.

"Oh, I see." I wondered if he really did understand. "I suppose a lot of prep schools have their own dorms, campuses--"

"Jets," Bobby cut him off.

"This school has jets?" I asked in awe. He nodded. "Wow. What doesn't this school have?" I asked going back to my cereal. I was almost done and my stomach had finally settled down.

"So you and Rogue, huh?" Mr. Logan asked, taking a sip of his drink.

"Yeah," Bobby replied looking even more uncomfortable.

I remembered Dr. Grey telling me that I wasn't the first person Mr. Logan had brought into the school Marie had been stranded somewhere and hitched a ride with him and they were brought to the school after an accident occurred. At least she and I had that in common. "How long have you and Marie been together?" I asked.

"Couple of months," he said, moving his spoon around in his ice cream. I wondered if it had melted yet or if he was keeping it from doing so with his power. "It's not what you think. I'd like it to be, but it's just--" he stopped speaking abruptly and looked up at Mr. Logan as if realizing who it was listening to him speak. "It's just that it's not easy… when you wanna to be closer to someone but you can't"

"The best things in life aren't ever easy," I regretted speaking when both their eyes fell on me. I wanted to take back what I said, but kept going instead. "They take time…effort. It's worth it in the end though."

"_You sound like a damn fortune cookie."_

Mr. Logan nodded while taking another sip of his drink. Bobby nodded as well, giving me a small smile. I guess he wasn't upset about me snapping at him earlier. Maybe I had just made my first friend?

He got serious all of a sudden and began playing with his ice cream again, "You know, I've seen how you look at Dr. Grey." My jaw dropped. I got to admit the boy had a lot of balls to say what he just did. I'd never have the guts to say it.

Mr. Logan tilted his head to the side, bottle still in hand. "Excuse me?" He asked as if daring Bobby to repeat what he'd just said again.

"Nothing," he said, trying to hide his amused tone.

Boys. I stood up, picked up my bowl and headed towards the sink, limping all the way. I wondered if I should wash it… "Leg still bothering you?" Mr. Logan asked me from behind.

"I'll be okay. I told you I should be in a mummy exhibit - my knee and part of my calf is wrapped around in a bandage," I told him, looking over my shoulder. "But so long as I don't have to run or…" I trailed off, staring at him as I turned my body around. He was still, head turned to the side as if he were listening for something. He stood quickly, chair scratching against the floor. He left his soda bottle on the edge of the table.

Bobby and I exchanged confused glances, "What is it?" He asked, looking concerned.

Instead of replying, Mr. Logan held out his hand, signaling for us to be quiet as he stood by the kitchen doorway. I limped towards the table, holding onto it for support. From beside me, Bobby had turned around to face the window behind us. I looked over my shoulder at him and tried to listen too. It sounded like… helicopters?

There was a startled gasp from in front of me. I jumped, my head snapping back in place. My jaw hung open in surprise. Mr. Logan had grabbed a man, who was wearing a black uniform and a ski mask over his face, by the arms, trying to get him to drop his gun. Shit. Had this been what Voice had warned me about?

"_Yeah, this is it."_

"You picked the wrong house, bub," he told the man, still struggling.

"_Cover your ears."_

"W-what?" I stuttered, not caring who heard me. Then, out of nowhere, a loud piercing shriek filled the school, making me cringe and filled my body with chills. It felt like my eardrums were going to explode. "Ahh--"I cried a little, pressing my hands against the side of my head. My arms sling made it difficult, though. I shut my eyes tightly, gritting my teeth.

Everything after that happened so fast: I heard glass breaking all over and Mr. Logan yell out. A hand wrapped itself around my upper arm and my emotions went into overdrive with fear, worry and pain. He hand pulled me down to the floor, roughly, ducking us behind the table as the sound of gun shots filled the air, mixed in with the piercing scream that sounded so inhuman. It felt like the gun and the screaming would go on forever, but when it stopped, I could still hear it ringing in my ears. "What hell was that?" I gasped, opening my eyes to look at Bobby.

"Siryn," He replied, sounding out of breath. With his chin, he motioned for me to look up. I did and found Mr. Logan had his back pressed against the table, the man in the mask towering over him with a knife. I buried my head against the side of the table, trying to think of something, anything. Maybe I could sneak up behind the guy and touch him or something…. But as I got up to make a move, I heard a loud grunt and a yell. Mr. Logan had pinned the man against the fridge "Ahh--" I slapped a hand over my mouth, trying to keep myself from screaming as the man went limp.

Mr. Logan had just murdered him.

"_Self defense isn't murder, Carolina. Remember that- self defense isn't murder."_

Letting my hand slide away from my mouth, I murmured: "Self defense isn't murder. Self defense isn't murder," over and over again, ignoring the pain in my leg.

Breathing heavily, Mr. Logan turned to us and for the first time, since I had met him, I felt a little afraid of him. He was sweating, body glistening, tense. His claws were still out, nose flaring. His eyes shifted from me to Bobby, "You all right?" He asked, calming himself. Bobby didn't hesitate to nod, but I didn't answer right away. "And you? You all right?" I nodded, not wanting to upset him. He didn't seem convinced, but came around the table to help me up. "We gotta go," he said, wrapping his arm around my waist, Bobby following behind us, but stopped when Mr. Logan shoved him against the doorframe. There were more soldiers with guns walking around.

"Oh, no," I muttered as a thought ran through my mind. Where they here for me?

"Stay here," he told us, letting go of me. "Keep an eye on her," he said, not bothering to look at us. "She's not gonna to make it very far with that leg of hers." He walked away from us, barely making any nose as he reached out and grabbed the first soldier he could, stabbing him in the back and throwing him against a wall.

"Self defense isn't murder. Self defense isn't murder," I repeated, covering my mouth, watching as he went for another.

"He's an animal," Bobby whispered, shaking his head as he watched what was happening.

"What do we do?" I asked. My voice was cracking. I felt like falling apart. I'd been through too

much in a small amount of time. This was beginning to feel ridiculous. I couldn't handle it any more. "What are we going do?" I asked him again and as if answering my question, we both heard screams coming from upstairs. "Oh my God, the kids," for a split second I had forgotten

that this place was a school, there were other people around. Shit. What if they were hurt too? It wasn't like I knew them, but no one deserved to die this way.

"Come on," I felt Bobby wrap his arm around my waist, practically caring me towards some doorway I hadn't noticed before.

"Where are we going?" I asked him, trying to keep up.

"To find Rogue, I need make sure she's okay," he hit a button and the door slid open. "We'll take the elevator," he said, helping me inside. When he let go of me I leaned against a wall, shutting my eyes. It was too bright.

"Do you think Mr. Logan will be okay?" I asked in a tiny voice.

"He can take care of himself," he coughed. "Didn't you see him take out those soldiers?"

I wish I hadn't seen it. "You're right. He'll be okay."

The elevator suddenly stopped and the door opened, the screams got louder.

Bobby held out a hand, signaling me to wait as he peered out into the hallway making sure there weren't any soldiers around. I limped towards him, but stopped when he was nearly run over by another boy, running in a different direction. Bobby turned around and shouted, "John! Hey. Where's Rogue?"

It was the boy with the Zippo lighter; he doubled back and stood in the middle of the hall, kids running past him. His eyes shifted from me to his friend. "I don't know," he finally said, holding his arms out.

"I got to find her," he said, shaking his head but full of determination and worry. I could feel that he felt very strongly for this girl. It was actually very romantic. "Wolverine told me to not let you out of my sight." Bobby said, bringing me out of my thoughts when he wrapped his arm around my waist again and draped my arm over his neck. I stared at him wide-eyed. "I'm not going too, but I need to find Rogue."

"I understand, don't worry."

"Hey," we heard someone shout from behind us. "Wait up, I'm coming with you."

Not bothering to turn around, Bobby said, "Fine." He stopped walking and loosened his grip on me, "But help me with, Gypsy."

John and I exchanged an awkward glance as he wrapped his arm around my waist. I cringed a little, feeling his fear and worry. "You okay?" He asked, letting me lean on him.

"I'm fine," I told him, wrapping my arm around his neck. I couldn't understand why I felt better and as ease when it was Bobby or Mr. Logan who had their arm around me. "Let's go."

"Rogue!" Bobby shouted from in front of us. "Rogue, where are you? Rogue!"

"Bobby!" Marie appeared suddenly, dressed in only her nightgown. "Have you seen, Gypsy? I think the soldiers got her!"

"She's here," John said, motioning to me with his head.

She looked relieved, "Oh good. I didn't see you when I passed your room, I thought the soldiers had you," she took a quick glance at Bobby then back at me.

My heart fluttered a little. I never had anyone worry about me before… It felt nice. "I'm fine, don't worry, but thank you."

She nodded, "Okay, this way!" She said heading towards the direction she had just come from.

"_No, not that way!" _Voice shouted, making me cringe.

"Not that way!" I said, jerking away from John, who was giving me a questioning look. "Not that way, please!" I began limping backwards away from the hall. "That's the wrong way!" I shouted turning around and walking down the hall. I looked over my shoulder and realized that they weren't following me. "Hey!" I shouted trying to get their attention, but a loud explosion drowned me out. "Oh my God," I whispered, panicking.

"_Behind you!"_

I turned around quickly, nearly loosing my balance and came face to face with one of the soldiers, his gun aimed directly at me. All air left my body and I felt helpless at that very moment. After all this… I was going to die. After I had fought so hard to escape. After everything I had been through. "I won't let you take me back." I said, voice low but loud enough for him to hear.

He pulled the trigger and I felt a sharp pain in my chest and I staggered a little. I felt woozy all of a sudden, the room was spinning. That's when I realized that it wasn't a bullet… it was some sort of tranquilizer.

"_Gypsy, stay awake. Don't fall asleep."_

I could feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head…then everything went quiet and dark.


	7. Empathy for The Empath

**-New: Tweaked Dialogue-**

**Chapter Seven:  
**Empathy for The Empath

* * *

Doors.

There were many doors, way to many to count. Doors with people who were locked on the other side, like animals in a zoo. An endless hall of doors with small windows where people could look in, but no one could get out.

Everything was white. These people had an odd obsession with the color - stupid, white isn't a color it's a shade. Not a color. Never a color. I supposed that they thought it was comforting to us - a neutral color - shade. Shade. White floors, windows, doors, chairs, clothes, bed… ugh, everything was so bright. These people had to be crazier than us. If any of us were indeed crazy to begin with. No, we weren't crazy. We were just put in here because we were different, we didn't fit in.

A scream coming from down the hall made me jump.

Or maybe we were crazy…

The sound of keys jingling on the other side of the door was what brought me out of my mental ranting. I looked up quickly, pressing myself against the wall behind my bed, trying to put some distance between the two bulky men who were approaching me. Yeah, they needed two men. I was known to be difficult, but not today. Not for a while, I had lost all energy to fight them off. I couldn't anymore. The two men didn't hesitate to grab me by my upper arms and drag me out of the room --my feet didn't even touch the ground-- and down the hall.

Another white room, I thought with a sigh.

I was seated in a chair that looked like it belonged at the dentists'. One of the men grabbed me by my wrists and placed them on the armrest, tying me down. The other man did the same to my feet. What could I say? I was a kicker and a biter. I was surprised that they hadn't put a muzzle on me yet. The man who restraint my arms gazed down at me and gave me an apologetic look. He was a good guy, I felt it when I first came to this place, but he let others influence his thoughts and actions. The other was different, strange and there was a glint in his eye that I didn't like. He patted the back of my chair as a goodbye for now and as a signal that they were done. They both left the room quietly and shut the door behind them.

Bastards.

And as if on queue, an average height man walked into the room, wearing a white lab coat. He walked towards me, picked up a clipboard, which had been placed on the table beside me, and scanned through it. He then walked behind me and though I couldn't see what he was doing, I had an idea. I clenched my hands into a fist as I waited anxiously for him to come into view. You'd think that after doing this so many times, I'd be used to it, but I'm wasn't. My heart was beating fast, my breathing short and uneven. I chewed on my bottom lip, hoping that would distract me somehow.

His footsteps echoed through the room as he came up on my left side. I looked up at him, trying to read him, but his face was void of any emotion. In fact, I couldn't feel what he was feeling at all. I knew it had something to do with the drugs I was being given. From the corner of my eye, I saw a glint. I lowered my gaze to the object in his hand. It was a needle- already dripping with whatever the hell it was he'd been injecting me with all this time. "Why are you doing this?" I asked, trying to sound calm, but my voice cracked a little. I felt like I hadn't used it in years.

The man shifted his gaze from my arm to my eyes, which surprised me because no one in this place ever looked me in the eyes. Too afraid that I might hypnotize them, cast a spell or whatever. I was a mutant. Not a witch, but they didn't know what kind of mutant I was so they had to be careful. I felt like a rabid animal that was being tested on, a freak on display at the carnival. I wanted to poke his eyes out. Make him hurt. Watch him bleed. I cringed suddenly. It hadn't been the first time such awful things crossed my mind, but they still made me feel like a monster. The seconds dragged on for, what felt like, an eternity before he spoke,

"It's for your own good," he said, as if what they were doing to me was completely justified with that simple sentence.

It was for my own good. For my own good! To hell with my own-- Ow. I winced as the needle slid into my arm and, within a couple of seconds, I began to feel dizzy. My eyesight was getting blurry; the room was beginning to spin. Or was it me that was spinning? My stomach began to churn and I got that sickly feeling in the pit of it. I could already feel the bile in the back of my throat burning. I shut my eyes tightly, gritted my teeth and began to struggle against my restraints. I felt pressure on my shoulders trying to hold me down, "Make it stop."

"_Bobby, I don't think you should be touching her_," an unseen female voice mused, sounding concerned. Who the hell was Bobby? Who the hell was she? Where did they come from?

Damnit! Was I going to be hearing voices now, too?

"_What do you want me to do? I can't just let her keep thrashing around_," a male voice spoke in a snappish tone. "_She's gonna hurt herself." _His tone changed suddenly. "_Maybe we should take her to the hospital_?"

"_No_," yet another voice spoke, but he sounded more mature, gruff. "_It's not safe to go to the hospital right now. We'll head to your place and let her rest there while we wait for Jean and Storm. Jean will take it from there_."

In the background I could hear a continuous clinking sound. _Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink. _I could also hear the sound of a car engine.

The room was spinning faster now, all colors and images blurring into one another. I tried to get out of my restraints again, ignoring the unseen voices. It's not like they could help me. The pressure on my shoulders tightened, I felt some shaking me now. "Make it stop, make it stop," I chanted like a prayer. "Make it--"

"_It's not real, not this time. Wake up, Carolina, you're dreaming!"_

"--Stop!" I yelled, my hands instinctively reaching for whoever was closes, and the person who was closes had me by the shoulders. Almost instantly I was flooded with guilt and jealously. Gasping for air, I opened my eyes, blinking to clear my vision. Everything was blurry, I could barely see. It was too bright. Groaning, I narrowed my eyes, trying to make out the person who was hovering over me and holding me down. "Let go of me," I said, pushing the person away.

They let go quickly and moved away slightly, "You okay?" He asked, the voice sounded familiar. It was the same person from before, the one who had spoken to the girl in a snappish tone.

I ignored his question. "What's going on?" I asked, bringing my hand up to rub my throbbing head. I felt like it was going to crack open at any given minute.

"_Breathe, Gypsy. Breathe."_

I did what I was told but it didn't help much. I still felt very panicked and unsure. I closed my eyes, trying to remember what the hell had happened.

Eating cereal with Bobby… talking to Mr. Logan… the attack on the school… kids screaming … oh, a solider had shot me and I blacked out. Shit. Opening my eyes, I blinked and noticed that my eyesight had begun to clear. I looked at my surroundings. I was in a car. How the hell had they gotten me away from that solider? I looked to my left, Bobby was sitting beside me, leaning forward, facing me. My gaze shifted from him to the person sitting on the other side of him: John. He was leaning back against the seat, watching me intently as he played with his Zippo lighter. Unable to keep eye contact with him I looked towards the driver's seat, Mr. Logan had both hands on the wheel, watching the road tensely.

Beside him was Marie, she was leaning to the side, giving me a small reassuring smile.

I looked away from them, out the window. Where the hell were we? All I could see was trees, no soul in sight, though it was bright and sunny outside. A flash of Ben and Dan chasing me through the woods popped into my head. I let out a startled cry for some reason. Everything was

beginning to spin. "Stop the car," I pleaded, my eyes still looking out towards the woods. When no one responded to me, I repeated myself, "Stop the car!"

"What?" A gruff voice asked, Mr. Logan most likely.

I leaned forward and Bobby sat back to give me room, "Please stop the car." I could feel them. There emotions, too many. They were confused, worried, nervous, afraid, annoyed. I hit the back of the driver's seat to get his attention, "I said stop the car."

Mr. Logan looked over his shoulder quickly then returned his attention back to the open road in front of him, "Hold on, Squirt. We're almost at Bobby's place."

I shook my head fiercely, "Please stop the damn car." He didn't turn around to face me; he barely even acknowledged my pleading. I began to hyperventilate, my head spinning, stomach churning. The bile in the back of my throat burned. I quickly placed a hand over my stomach and let out a desperate sigh and shouted: "Dammit, Mr. Logan! I said stop the damn car!" The car stopped so abruptly, I, and everyone else, jerked forward.

The side of my head hit the back of Marie's seat and bounced off, smacking into the window. I cursed, grimacing from the pain but kept focused. I had to leave. I needed to get away from them. It may have seemed like I was overreacting but I wasn't. I opened the side door, stumbling out, falling on my arm. I let out a cry and tried to stand up, but I kept tripping over my feet like a drunk. Not to mention that I was still limping.

"Gypsy," I heard a voice call out to me from behind. "Gypsy, stop!"

"_What are you doing?"_

"I got to get away," I told Voice, stumbling over my feet. I had to bit down on my lip to stop myself from crying out in pain. "I can't stay with them. It's not safe. For either of us. You lied to me."

"_I didn't lie to you. You are safe with them. Those men weren't there for you."_

Before I could even open my mouth to respond to Voice, a hand clamped down on my wrist. A strong jolt ran up my arm --Confused. Worried. Annoyed. Understanding.-- I snatched my hand away from, whoever had grabbed me. With my back still to them, I shouted, "Don't touch me." I shut my eyes and clenched my teeth, trying to fight the familiar feeling building up inside of me, "Stay away!" There was a surprised grunt from behind me.

"Logan!"

The panic in Marie's voice startled to me. Had I hurt Mr. Logan that badly? After all he'd done for me. Biting my lip, I turned around, careful not to put too much weight on my bad leg, and found him on the ground at least ten feet away from me. He looked winded and struggled to sit up. He kept his head low, tilting it to the side, cracking his neck. He licked his bottom lip and pointed behind him, "Get back in the car, Rogue." He stood up and looked at me.

"I'm sorry," I murmured pitifully, shaking my head sadly, avoiding his eyes. "I didn't mean - I told you not - I warned you--"

"Hey, it's okay," he said. I kept my eyes on his boots as he approached me cautiously. "I'm not hurt - see," he opened his arm, letting me see that he was, in fact, unharmed. It still didn't stop me from feeling bad. "I'm fine."

Nodding, I began to babble uncontrollably, "I'm sorry, it's just… when I get panicky - when I'm vulnerable," I paused to catch my breath. "I - I don't know how to explain it, but it's like… a-a barrier. It pushes people away when I feel threatened…" I felt pathetic as I tried to explain what happened moments before while he stared at me, head tilted to the side, trying to follow what I was saying. "I-It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does its strong and I guess…I don't know--"

"Squirt," Mr. Logan cut me off. "It's okay. All I want to know is why you freaked out back in the car." I lowered my gaze back to the ground. It was then that I noticed that I was only wearing socks. I was surprised that I hadn't stepped in glass. "Did you feel something off any of us? Something you couldn't handle? "I nodded. "What'd you feel?"

"Too much," I said, finally looking him in the eye. "My head…." I grimaced.

"You all right now?"

The dizziness was gone. I didn't feel like I was going to throw up. I couldn't feel anyone in my head. I was okay. "Yeah, I'm fine now."

"You ready to get back into the car?" He asked, holding out one of his hands for me to take. I assumed he was going to help me get back into the car.

"I don't think I can handle any much more of this, Mr. Logan," I said, looking at his hand. "A lot has happened in less then twenty-four hours… it's just a matter of time before I break down."

"Look, Carolina," he began, moving closer to me. "I know you're scared," I looked up at him and tilted my head to the side, studying his face. "The others are scared too and I'm worried as hell, but we're all going to get through this alive. I promise to look out for you, for them, but you gotta trust me, okay?" There was something in his voice that changed. Something different in his eyes.

"You know, don't you?" I whispered, wondering if he would catch on to what I was asking. "She told you."

He exhaled deeply and nodded, "She thought it'd be best if I knew."

"Did you think it was best too?" I asked, trying to keep myself from getting angry at Dr. Grey. She had only wanted to help, but it hadn't been her place to tell him about my past.

He shrugged. "You an' me got some things in common," he said, nodding. "I know how you feel."

"And I know how you feel…" I said quietly. He was lost. Always lost and feeling alone. It made me sad, but I didn't tell him that. I knew he didn't want my pity.

It was quiet for some time and then he spoke, "Come on, let's go back to the car." Nodding, I let him wrap his arm around my waist, I didn't feel anything. I was drained at the moment. When we reached the vehicle, Bobby stepped out and helped me in. I muttered a thanks and he replied with a nod and got inside, shutting the door behind him. I felt a little squished sitting in between him and John, but I didn't mention it.

"You okay?"

I was surprised when John spoke, he'd been quiet since I had woken up. I looked at him and smiled a little, "I'll be fine."

He raised an eyebrow and began to play with his lighter, "What happened to you? Why'd you freak out?"

"Nightmares," I replied, wondering why he was even speaking to me. Now, don't get me wrong, I don't mind talking to him, it gives me something to do and keep my mind from wandering away, but I was still curious as to why he was asking if I was okay of all things. Then I remembered that he had let me lean against him when the school was attacked, helping me get away. "Do you know what happened to me after I wandered away from you all?"

He furrowed his brows, lips pouted, looking away from me. "Wolverine was the one who found you, some soldier had stunned you and was about ready to take you, but Logan stopped him."

"And by stopped him, you mean killed him?" He nodded. "Great," I murmured, sliding down in my seat.

"_It could have been worst. It could have been you_," Voice said solemnly. I nodded, my eyelids

getting heavy. "_You should try to sleep some more. It'll be awhile until you get to Bobby's house."_

"Okay," I said, already dozing off. I hoped that I wouldn't have another nightmare.


	8. He Said it Was Stigmata

**Chapter Eight:  
**He Said it Was Stigmata

* * *

"All right, squirt, we're here. You need to wake up, now."

Groaning out of frustration at being woken up, I slowly cracked open an eye and was surprised to find that it was Mr. Logan, not V, who had brought me out of my sleep. He was still sitting in the driver's seat, looking over his shoulder at me with his hand on my forearm. I felt a small tingle and blushed embarrassedly when I remembered the way I reacted after waking up from my nightmare and that I had thrown him ten feet away from me and off his feet. Stupid. I rubbed my eyes tiredly and arched my stiff back until I heard a soft crack. I sat up and looked around. The car wasn't moving anymore and everyone was gone, save for me and Mr. Logan. "Where's here?" I asked, adjusting the strap around my neck. It was beginning to bother me.

"Bobby's place," he replied as he got out and shut the door behind him. As he walked around the car, I took the chance to look out the window and saw the others standing on the front porch of a nice looking house. Bobby was looking for something, most likely the key to the front door, while John was leaning against the railing and Marie stood away from them both, her arms crossed over her chest, protectively. Scooting towards the car door, I pushed it open and tired to get out without hurting myself.

"Need some help?" Mr. Logan asked; looking down at me with his head tilted to the side, arching an eyebrow.

Since he had offered, a part of me wanted to say yes, to keep playing the roll of the damsel in distress for his knight and shinning armor character, but the other half was telling me to say no because I couldn't keep depending on him to always be there and help me. He wasn't my guardian and he didn't owe me anything. If anyone owed anyone anything it would be me. He saved me twice. I had to learn to take care of myself, for everyone's sake. Giving in to that half, I shook my head. "Thanks anyway," I said, smiling despite of the pain in my knee. I wondered how long I would have to endure it.

"_You should just let him help you_," V said.

I didn't get the chance to respond to V. "You sure?" He asked, stepping back a little to give me enough room to get out of the car, but still close enough to catch me incase I lost my balance.

"Uh-huh," I said, leaning against the car door to steady myself. "Let's go," I motioned for him to walk up ahead of me. I didn't want him walking behind me. It made me paranoid. It didn't matter who the person was: man or woman, someone I knew and trusted… I still got paranoid.

"_And with good reason, too."_

"Damn straight," I murmured, limping towards the steps of the front porch. I bit my bottom lip as I gripped the rail tightly, making my way up to the front door. I didn't know how far I had gotten before Mr. Logan spoke.

"You're obviously in pain," he said, walking down to meet me. "I know you don't want my help, but you're takin' too damn long." I didn't say anything when he wrapped his arm around my waist and ignored the amusement I felt from him.

"Found it," Bobby said, standing up straight with a key in his hand. He quickly unlocked the door and stepped inside, Marie and John following close behind with Mr. Logan and me in the back. "Mom? Dad? Ronny?" He called out, walking further into the house, "Is anybody home?" He stopped and looked around. Mr. Logan shut the door behind us. Looking over his shoulder at Marie, Bobby said, "I'll try and find you some clothes." He then turned to John, who was playing with his lighter, and told him, "Don't burn anything."

Snorting a little, I tightened my grip on the back of Mr. Logan's shirt as we walked into the living room. It really was a nice house. "I'm gonna try and get a hold of Jean or Storm," he said, setting me down on the couch. "You stay put. Got it?"

"Got it," I said, nodding. "Thanks, Mr. Logan."

His normally tense face visibly relaxed and the corner of his lips twitched a little. "Don't mention it." He reached out and placed his hand on the side of my head. I got the feeling that he had wanted to ruffle my already messy hair, but the skull hat saved me from that. Mr. Logan didn't remove his hand right away. He kept his eyes on my face and slightly frowned. At that moment I sort of wished I knew what he was thinking but I gathered that it was something troubling. I offered him a small smile to show him that I was okay. He returned it and walked off into another room.

_Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink._

Hearing the familiar and, yet strangely, comforting sound of John's Zippo lighter, I turned my attention to him. He was standing in front of me, looking at a wall filled with family photos of the Drakes. Wanting to get a better look at the pictures, I stood up and carefully made my way to stand beside him. They looked happy, Bobby's family. I felt a small tug at my heart. I stole a glance at John, who was still staring at the same photo from before. He was upset. I could tell.

Maybe I should try and talk to him… "Cute family, huh?" I asked, breaking the uncomfortable silence. He didn't look at me, didn't even react to what I had said. I scanned the living room without moving from my spot, "Nice house, too. Bobby's - Bobby's really lucky," I sighed, beginning to feel depressed myself. "I use to live in a house like this," I told him, wondering if he was even listening. "It wasn't as nice as this, but--"

"What's your point?" He snapped, cutting me off.

The sound of his voice startled me a little. I took a step away from him. "No point, not really, just trying to make conversation, you know?" I was babbling and giggling. Giggling? I rolled my eyes inwardly. Since when the hell did I start to giggle. "It seems like I'm really bad at it though." Sighing, I turned away from him and made my way back to the couch. My head itched, so I took the hat off and carefully, scratched the area. When I looked up, John was facing me. I shifted in my seat feeling uncomfortable under his watchful eyes. I chewed on the inside of my cheek and tucked some of my hair behind my ear.

"You're bleeding."

"Huh?"

"You're bleeding," he repeated, raising his hand and, with his index finger, pointing at his forehead to show me where.

Almost hesitantly, I followed his lead and touched the part of my forehead where the bandage, Dr. Grey put, was and looked at my hand. The pads of my index and middle finger were covered in dark blood. I cringed a little, furrowing my brows. How had I not felt that I was bleeding before? When had I…? Then I remembered. "Shit," I muttered to myself. "I must have hurt myself when…" I trailed off when I realized that John was still staring at me. I looked back at my hand, vaguely wondering if I should wipe the blood off on my shirt.

"_You should go get cleaned up,_"V said. I nodded in agreement.

"C'mon," John said, moving towards me. "Let's go see if Popsicle's got a first aid kit around here," he reached for my arm suddenly, to help me up, I assumed. But, of course, being who I was, I jerked away. I felt the heat in my cheeks rising from embarrassment. He raised an eyebrow, giving me a questioning look.

"Sorry," I murmured, looking away from him as I stood up, "Force of habit. Can't let too many people get to close." Not wanting to stain the white couch with my blood, I used my forearm to balance myself as I limped towards the stairs I saw Bobby and Marie use.

"You know," he said from behind me. "If you were to lean on me, I could help you walk and we'd be save a lot of time." I stopped walking, a little surprised that he was offering to help me. I hadn't known him for less then a day, I'm guessing, but I knew, from the vibes I was getting from him, that he more of an every-man-for-himself kind of guy. Maybe he felt bad about snapping at me? Whatever reason, I nodded. He walked up beside me and wrapped an arm around my waist. I shuddered, feeling something cold pass through me, and carefully draped my working arm

around his neck, keeping my blood stained fingers away from his shirt. "See," he began, not at all bothered by my reaction to him. That or he hadn't felt it. "I don't bite, unless you want me to, of course." He chuckled a little, trying to lighten the mood, which really surprised me. "Besides it's not like this is the first time we've been close to one another."

I felt myself blush again. What the hell was wrong with me? "Being close to someone physically isn't my problem," I admitted, trying really hard not to look at him because I could feel his eyes on me. "It's emotionally. I can barely handle my own right now. I doubt I could handle yours too."

"Is that why you freaked out in the car, you overloaded or something?" He asked as we began to walk. I nodded at his question. "So don't."

"It's not that easy," I sighed, pressing my palm against his shoulder. "I can't turn it on and off," I finished with a note of finality in my voice. I didn't want to talk about my mutation any more. Who was to say that he wouldn't go blabbing to someone about it if he was captured? He was an every-man-for-himself kind of guy like I mentioned before and I was paranoid.

"_You need to learn to trust."_

I wanted to tell Voice that I trusted Mr. Logan, but I kept quiet.

"Really?" John asked, and, for a moment, I thought he had read my thoughts, but then I remembered what we had been talking about for the past minute or so. I nodded. "What am I feeling right now?" He asked in a challenging tone.

"You really wanna know?" I asked him, hoping that I was able to hide the disbelief in my voice. No one in their right mind, in my opinion, would ever want to admit that there was someone who could feel what they were feeling, literally. At least, I wouldn't. It was like an invasion of privacy. "You're bitter… angry, jealous and lonely, though you won't ever admit it out loud." I turned my head to the side to look at him when I felt his grip on my waist tighten. I wondered if I was going too far. "You're also tired and relieved, about what, I don't know…" I trailed off. He narrowed his eyes and I began to tell him that he was the one that wanted to know, but a gruff voice cut me off before I got the chance.

"I thought I told you to stay put," Mr. Logan said, turning to face us as we entered the kitchen area. He looked between me and John, raising an eyebrow, "Where you two goin'?"

I stole a quick glance at John before answering, "We're gonna see if Bobby's got a first aid kit." I wiggled my fingers to draw Mr. Logan's attention to my hand, "I'm bleeding."

"I thought I smelled blood," he muttered, looking back at an object in his hand. It looked like a cell phone. "Don't break anything."

I rolled my eyes. Of all the things he could have said. How old did he think we were? "We'll try not to," John replied cheekily as we made our way up the stairs. When we reached the top of the landing, Bobby walked by with some clothes in his arms. They looked a little outdated, but who was I to judge? "Hey," John called out, trying to get his friends attention. "You got a first aid kit?"

Bobby stopped at the sound of John's voice and looked over his shoulder at us. "First aid kit? Yeah… third door on your left," he said, pointing down the hall he'd just come from. "There should be one… in the cabinet underneath the sink," as he finished talking, his eyes shifted to my bleeding forehead. Hadn't I told him before that staring wasn't polite? "What happened?" He finally asked, taking a step towards us.

"She's got a case of stigmata. What's it look like?" John asked, turning the two of us in the direction of the bathroom. "I got it covered though," his grip on my waist tightened again. "You just run along back to Rouge like the love sick pup you are. It's what you're best at."

There was no response from Bobby, at least none I could hear, just the sound of his retreating footsteps and a door slamming behind us. "That was kind of mean," I finally told him as I sat on top of the counter beside the sink, in the bathroom, while he looked for the kit. "Don't you think?"

"No, not really," he said, uninterestedly as he rummaged through the cabinet. After a while, he stood up, examining a small box with a red cross on it, "Found it." I cleaned off the blood on my fingers and reached for the kit. "I'll do it," he offered, opening the box and taking out a fresh white band-aid with some disinfectant.

I carefully began to remove the bloody band-aid from my forehead as he applied some disinfectant on to the cotton ball in his hand. I bit down hard on my bottom lip, wincing as it pulled at my skin. "How bad is it?" I asked John, throwing away it away in the waste basket.

Cleaning my cut with the cotton ball, he furrowed his brows. "Some of the stitching came out." I winced a little. "It's not that bad."

Silence filled the room in a matter of seconds and as I've mentioned before- I hated silence. Not only did it make me uncomfortable, but it gave me time to think. Which was not what I wanted to do at the moment, but sadly- I did. That was when I realized just how close John was to me. He was standing between my legs, a small space between us. We weren't touching though, so I couldn't feel what he was feeling. I wondered if he was as nervous as I was about being so close to each other. Probably not. I wasn't exactly much to look at. Not like him. I felt my eyes widen a little. I hoped that I wasn't blushing. If I was, he wasn't saying anything. Maybe he was just being nice? But why was he being nice? Why was he helping me at all?

"_There you go again being paranoid. You've got every right to be, but enough is enough."_

I ignored Voice, "Can I ask you a question?" I made myself look at him as I spoke.

The corners of his lips twitched. "You just did," he replied smartly.

Whether or not he was being serious or just messing around with me, I laughed, or more like, I giggled. It wasn't one of my nervous, awkward giggles. It was an honest giggle, which made me feel a weird inside. "That was lame," I finally told him. "You could have done better."

He shrugged. "So sue me," he said, grinning a little. It was the first time I'd ever seen him really smile. I mean, the last time I had seen him smile was when he and Bobby were talking about me and I didn't like him much at that point. I wasn't even sure if I liked him now, but he was helping me, not mocking me. He had a nice smile, I noticed. Made his face livelier, better looking then he already was.

Repeating that last sentence, I shook my head discreetly. Better looking? Oh, God. "I would, but I don't have the money to pay for a lawyer." He shook his head and reached for the band-aid on the counter beside me. "Why are you helping me?" I asked in a soft voice. I didn't want to sound suspicious or ungrateful.

He seemed more interested with putting the band-aid on my forehead then paying attention to the conversation I was trying to have with him, "What'd you mean?"

When I was sure he was done, I grabbed his wrist and immediately felt how nervous he was. He wasn't as nervous as I was, but it was there and that comforted me a little for some strange reason. "Don't play dumb," I said, letting go.

He gave me a long hard look, which intimidated me a smidge, before answering me, "You remind me of me," he said, moving from between my legs to wash his hands in the sink, "When I first got to Xavier's."

"How's that?" I asked, removing my sling. I had been trying to ignore how uncomfortable it was making me feel. I doubted I needed it anymore. My arm was still broken, of course, but I just didn't see the use of having the sling. "Rude? Cocky?" I added the last bit softly.

He turned off the tap and wiped his hands on a towel hanging near by, "More like defensive, really private," he turned around and leaned up against the sink as he continued to speak. "Not wanting to depend on other people to help you…"

I looked down at my hand and wiggled my fingers, "I have every right to be the way that I am." I lowered my voice, "It's hard not being defensive and private." I scanned my surroundings, "I haven't had to depend on anyone for a really long time. I've practically been alone for a long time."

"Why don't you tell me about it?"

I shook my head, "It's just like you said." I turned my head to the side, our eyes met. "I'm a private person. I don't like talking about my home life, past included."

He nodded, but I knew that he really wanted to know. I wasn't sure if it was out of curiosity or if he was genuinely interested about my past. We kind of stared at each other for a bit, neither one of us saying anything and I didn't feel uncomfortable. John opened his mouth to say something, but was cut off by the door opening.

"Hey--" Marie stopped speaking abruptly, her eyes shifting between the two of us. I noticed that she had changed her clothes and was wearing a pair of white gloves. What was it with her and gloves? "Am I interrupting something?" She asked, eyes going wide.

John moved away from me, standing up straight, "No, what's going on?"

"Bobby's parents are home," she said in her southern drawl. "I think we should all be down there with him when he tells them he's a mutant."

"He's gonna tell 'em?" I asked, jumping down from the counter, forgetting that I still had an injured leg. I sucked in some air, so deep it hurt my chest, but tried to ignore the pain otherwise.

"Yeah," she nodded, moving towards me, helping me keep my balance. "And by the looks of it, it ain't gonna be pretty."


	9. Not John… Pyro

**Chapter Nine:  
**Not John… Pyro

* * *

An awkward silence fell over the room after Bobby told his family that he was a mutant. The tension became so thick it could literally be cut with a knife. The only sound that could be heard at the moment was that of John, flicking his Zippo lighter open and close. I felt nervous for Bobby… or maybe I was feeling his nervousness, but it didn't matter who it was.

_Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink._

Sighing and leaning further back in my seat, I looked over my shoulder. Mr. Logan was standing behind me, pacing back and forth like an animal in its cage with watchful eyes. He glanced at me briefly, face unreadable and resumed his pacing. From what Marie and told John and me, the Drakes had walked into the house and found him in the kitchen drinking a beer. I could only imagine their reaction. When the three of us got downstairs, everyone was in the living room. Feeling uncomfortable and out of place, I decided that it wouldn't be a great idea to sit on the couch with Bobby, his mom and his brother. So, I grabbed a chair close by and dragged it where Mr. Logan was standing. I felt safer and more comfortable with him around anyway.

"So," my attention immediately turned to Mrs. Drake, who was nervously playing with her hands as she spoke to her eldest son. "Uh, when did you first know you were a- a--?"

"A mutant?" John offered, leaning against the table beside me. He was still playing with his lighter, not at all bothered by the situation. In fact, if I didn't know any better, I thought he was enjoying it.

_Flick. Clink. Flick. Clink._

Annoyed with having been interrupted, she rolled her eyes and looked at him, "Would you cut that out?" She asked a bit rudely, motioning towards his Zippo lighter. I stole a quick glance at him and waited for him to say something smart, but he didn't. Instead he kept his eyes on her and stopped playing with his lighter, but didn't put it away. It remained in his hand, where he probably thought it would be safe and secure.

"You have to understand," Mr. Drake began, taking the opportunity to join the conversation. "We thought Bobby was going to a school for the gifted," he finished looking somewhat perplexed.

"Bobby is gifted," Marie said, jumping to her boyfriend's defense.

"We know that," he said, carefully choosing his words. "We just didn't realize--"

"We still love you, Bobby," Mrs. Drake said, cutting her husband off. "It's just… this mutant problem is a little--"

"What mutant problem?" I looked at Mr. Logan. He'd finally stopped pacing and was now leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed over his chest, looking into the living room.

"Complicated," she finished as if she hadn't been interrupt by the large man beside me. Her eyes flickered in my direction for a moment.

"What exactly are you a professor of, Mr. Logan?" Mr. Drake asked, curiously.

"Art," was his response. I snorted softly and bit my lip to keep from smiling.

"Well," Marie spoke up. "You should see what Bobby can do."

The air in the room, at that moment, felt weird. My stomach churned and my headache was back. I pinched the bridge of my nose and shut my eyes. Someone was angry and it was strong. That happened sometimes. I could easily be sitting somewhere by myself when I'd get hit by someone else's emotion. If it was strong enough, I could feel it without touching them and that was dangerous for me.

"_Just breathe deep. It'll pass"._

Nodding, I did what I was told and after a few moments it was gone. I shook my head and looked up to see Bobby touching the cup in his mother's hand. I sat up in my seat a little. Mrs. Drake stared into the cup, eyes wide, mouth open. When her son moved away, she gasped lightly and turned it upside down, letting a clump of ice fall onto the saucer.

"I can do a lot more than that," Bobby said, sounding proud of himself.

I smiled a little, amused by the reaction on her face and her husband's. I couldn't see his brother, he was well hidden from my site, but I could guess what he was feeling. His mother didn't look up as she placed the cup and saucer on the coffee table in front of her. From beside me, John laughed quietly and Mr. Logan just stood there, observing. The family cat jumped onto the table with a small meow and began licking at the frozen tea.

And as if that was the last thing he could handle, Bobby's brother stood up and left the room, running up the stairs without looking back. "Oh, Ronny!" Mrs. Drake called after him, helplessly. Everyone exchanged looks. "This is all my fault," she said, shaking her head, dropping her gaze to the floor.

"Actually," John began in a strong voice. "They discovered that males are the ones that carry the mutant gene and pass it on." I furrowed my brows and let his information sink in. "So, it's his fault." I looked at Bobby's dad, who looked taken aback by what he'd just learned. Shaking my head slightly, I laughed quietly to myself. I looked over towards John's direction and, coincidently, he was looking at me, too. He winked and turned away. Caught off guard, I let my gaze linger on him a little longer before turning away too, my cheeks feeling a little warmer then before.

After the bit of information John dropped, things got quiet. Everyone just sat there, looking at one another as if asking what they should do about the situation. A shiver ran down my spine at the though of what my family did when they found out I was a mutant.

"_They're gone, Carolina. There's no need to think about what happened. You can't keep looking back and expect to go forward."_

"Now who sounds like a damn fortune cookie?" I asked, making sure to keep my voice as low as possible.

The silence was suddenly broken by a loud ringing sound. "Oh," Mr. Logan said, snapping out of his thoughts and reaching into his back pocket. "It's for me," he laid a hand on my shoulder and walked towards the glass sliding doors that led outside, into the backyard.

"Bobby," his mother began. "Have you ever tried… not being a mutant?"

I heard John snort, but I ignored it and kept my eyes on her. For a moment, I expected someone to tell her off, but no one did and that upset me. The crestfallen look on Bobby's face made my heart feel heavy. So, I decided that I didn't want to be the mute girl anymore. "No offense to you, Mrs. Drake," I said, sitting up in my seat. Everyone's attention was on me now. "But how could you even ask that? It's ridiculous. It's like asking a person if they can stop aging and dying - it's not possible, catch my drift?" She raised an eyebrow and I continued to speak. "You should be proud of your son, not trying to make him feel bad." Bobby turned around to face me. He gave me a small smile, showing me that he was thankful that I was standing up for him, "Or at least be happy that he can pass off as normal. Most mutants aren't as lucky as we are."

"And who are you exactly?" She asked, titling her head to the side, examining me. I wondered if she had even heard anything I had said to her. She was probably one of those moms' that, unless it was something she wanted to hear, wouldn't.

"Carolina," I replied, letting my gaze fall to my hands. "I'm, uh… I'm a--"

"She's a friend of mine," Bobby said, cutting me off. Friend? I liked the sound of that. Bobby Drake was my first official friend at school. He turned around again and smiled at me. I returned it without hesitation. "She's new to the school."

She nodded, "And I suppose your parents know that you're a-a mutant, hmm? How did they react to that bit of news?"

"Mom!" Bobby protested.

I felt the smile on my face vanish at the mention of my parents.

"_Breathe."_

Making sure to keep my eyes locked with her and no one else, I replied: "They're dead. Everyone's gone." Not wanting to see her reaction, I looked down at my hands again. Why had I told her? Why had I let them hear? I let out a long sigh. Everything went quiet again.

"_Something's about to go down," _V said. "_I'm not sure what, but just do as you're told and you'll be okay."_

V's warning startled me. The last time it did, the school was attacked. "We have to go now," I looked up as Mr. Logan walked back into the house, locking the sliding door behind him. He looked tense, could he feel that something was about to happen too?

"Why?" Marie asked.

"Now," he repeated without further explanation. He stopped beside me, eyes darting between John and me. "Help her," he said, walking off towards the front door. I heard the familiar sound of knives clashing together and knew that he had his claws out.

John and I exchanged looks as we stood up. He wrapped his arm around my waist and I draped mine over his shoulders. He was nervous again. We all followed after Mr. Logan, but stopped dead in our tracks when we stepped out on to the porch. "You have got to be shitting me," I groaned, grabbing a handful of John's shirt. The front of the house was surrounded by cops and cars. What scared me the most was that they were aiming guns at us. I felt John tighten his arm around me, he was scared too. I guessed that this was what Voice was trying to warn me about.

"Drop the knives," my head snapped to the side. A male cop was standing beside us; a few feet away with a gun aimed at us in his hands, "And put your hands in the air."

"What's goin' on here?" Mr. Logan asked while the rest of us looked around frantically. I saw that there was another cop standing on the other side of the porch, a blond woman. I couldn't believe this was happening. Hadn't we just escaped from the soldiers back at the school? How the hell had the police found us here of all places?

"Ronny," Bobby said as if reading my thoughts. I looked at him with disbelief. His brother? I don't know why I was surprised, he had seemed angry earlier.

"I said drop the knives," the male cop repeated. His request went unanswered though because at that moment there was a loud sound of glass shattering from behind us. Startled, I tightened my grip on John and looked over my shoulder. More officers had gotten into the house. Now we really were surrounded.

Shit, shit, shit, SHIT!

"This is just a misunderstanding."

"Put the knives down!" The man yelled, sounding frustrated.

Mr. Logan turned his head to look at the man, "I can't," he said, trying to keep his cool. "Look," he slowly began to raise his arms to show him what he meant, but the cop must have seen it as a threat because the next thing I knew, he had pulled the trigger and shot Mr. Logan straight in the forehead. Shock. Fear. Anger. John pulled me back as I screamed and watched Mr. Logan's body hit the ground with a thud. My knees felt shaky and I felt a sharp pain in my chest. If John hadn't been holding me up at that moment, my legs would have probably given out on me.

"Alright," the cop, who had pulled the trigger, said, "The rest of you, on the ground now!" I

hesitated for a moment, but then remembered what Voice had told me. I let go of John and pulled myself away from him, my eyes still on Mr. Logan's lifeless body. I lowered myself, careful not to hurt my leg, and laid flat on the ground. From the corner of my eyes, I saw Marie and Bobby doing the same. I felt my eyes beginning to water. How the hell could this be happening? What had we done to them? Mr. Logan hadn't hurt anyone and yet he had been shot. I let out a shaky sigh, it was strange how attached to him I had gotten in a short amount of time. With my working arm, I reached out to touch his hand, but a voice stopped me.

My attention turned to Marie, who was shaking her head, taking deep breaths. "Don't touch him," she said her eyes on him. "Not yet." Biting the inside of my lip, I drew back my hand and looked away from her. She looked calm. I had sort of expected her to be freaking out, but no. She was just staring at him, muttering something I couldn't hear.

"Look, kid. I said, on the ground!"

"We don't wanna hurt you, kid," said the female cop.

I looked away from Mr. Logan and saw who the police were talking to. "John," he looked down at me. I couldn't bring myself to say anything else.

Breathing heavily, he shook his head. "You know all those dangerous mutants you hear about on the news?" For a moment I thought he had been talking to me, but when I saw that he had his Zippo lighter in his hand, I knew he wasn't. I narrowed my eyes at him as if asking what the hell was he thinking of doing. He looked away from me to the man who had shot Mr. Logan, "I'm the worst one." The fire from his lighter jumped into his hand. He raised his arm towards the cop. I watched as it spiraled and knocked the man off the porch.

My eyes remained locked on where the man had been standing moments before. When I heard a female scream, I knew John had done the same to her. He turned around and aimed his arm inside the house. More screams. He faced forward again and began aiming the fire towards the cop cars, switching hands as he went.

"Oh my, God," I breathed shakily. I shut my eyes, unable to watch his mass destruction. Images of the night my brother and younger sister died replayed in my head. The screams of our neighbors calling for help ringed in my ears, the feel of being held back by people when I tried to run inside our burning house, my barrier pushing them away. More screams.

"_Stop it. Stop thinking. Don't think. Open your eyes!"_

Against my better judgment, I opened them just in time to see one of the cop cars exploding and another one on fire. There were people inside. I tore my eyes away from the burning car to John. He was smiling, but it wasn't the smile I'd seen earlier. It was scary. He seemed proud of what he was doing. I shook my head. This wasn't John… this was Pyro. From the corner of my eye, I saw Marie removing one of her gloves. She gave me a quick glance as she placed her hand on his bare leg. I looked up again; John was looking at his hand now. The veins in his face were visible and his skin was turning gray. He was making weird noises, like he was choking. Was he dying?

Eyes wide with worry and fear I looked back at Marie. She had her arm outstretched in front of her, aimed towards the burning cars. That's when I noticed- the fire was dying down. What kind of mutation did she have exactly? But before I could even go over the possibilities, I was distracted by a sound coming from above us. It was a jet. Storm and Dr. Grey? Again, distracted by the jet, I hadn't noticed that Marie and Bobby were standing up or that John looked like his normal healthy self. Slowly, I pushed myself up, but didn't stand up. I was still a little shaky. I wanted to collect myself before standing up. Tearing my gaze away from the scene in front of me, I looked towards Mr. Logan. A sudden rush of sadness hit me. He was dead. My knight was dead. I reached out to touch his hand, a final goodbye, but stopped when I saw his chest rise.

I jerked back in shock as he stood up and cracked his neck. He was alive. How the hell was he alive? We all saw what happened. Or had I imagined it? No, no, I hadn't imagined it. I spotted the speck of blood on his forehead where he had been shot as he looked over his shoulder at John.

Inhaling deeply and trying my best not to freak out, I stood up slowly as Bobby and Marie walked off the porch, towards the direction of the jet. I pressed my hand against the doorframe, trying to steady myself as I stood up and as if sensing my struggle, John turned around and took a step towards me to help. And though I was grateful, I was still scared of him. I moved away, shaking my head, eyes darting nervously to and away from him. I didn't want to be near him as childish as it may have sounded. Watching him try and burn those people alive, whether they deserved it or not, hit close to home. Realizing that I wasn't going to take his hand, he dropped it and walked away, leaving me alone and followed behind Marie and Bobby. I felt stupid for not accepting his help, but I couldn't.

I dropped my gaze to the ground; half wishing they would leave me behind. I gritted my teeth. Why was I being this way? Did I really want them to leave me behind?

"_They made you this way. They taught you to question everything. It's not your fault."_

"I should have left that night with…" I trailed off, not wanting to finish my sentence.

The next thing I knew I was being carried off the porch by Mr. Logan. He didn't say anything to me, just kept looking forward, walking towards the jet. I buried my face in the crook of his neck, wrapping my arm around his neck and, just like before, he stiffened, but relaxed. I felt his worry though, his anger and the same familiar feeling of being lost. Why did he always feel lost?


	10. What Could Happen?

**Chapter Ten:  
**What Could Happen?

* * *

"_He's not angry with you. You haven't done_ anything_ to upset him."_

"Maybe that's the problem," I murmured, feeling a mixture of sadness and uneasiness. V, since we'd taken off, had been trying to reassure me that Mr. Logan wasn't upset, but I thought otherwise and with good reason, too. Shifting in my seat, I lowered my gaze from the back of his head to my lap. He hadn't spoken to me at all since the incident back at Bobby's house, barely even looked at me as we boarded the jet or when he sat me down in my seat. There were no words of encouragement. No nickname calling or a pat on the head. No 'we'll get through this, you'll see.' Nothing and I found that very disheartening. Like I said before, it was amazing how attached to him I had gotten in such a small amount of time.

Every so often an image of him on the ground with a bullet in his forehead appeared in my mind and another of him standing up as if nothing had happened. Talk about coming back from the dead. I'd never been so freaked out in my life. I wish I'd said something to him as he carried me off the porch, away from the havoc, but I didn't. Instead, I buried my face in the crook of his neck, trying to hide. That's why I thought he was mad- because I hadn't done anything to help, like John and Marie… all I did was hide and panic.

"_No one expected you to do anything. You don't have a very active power."_

"I have my barrier," I reminded Voice, but it was only there to protect me and it was unpredictable. "I expected myself to be braver," I whispered, sighing and then added, "Not a whimpering baby…" a part of me knew that I was being hard on myself, but that didn't stop the bashing either way. Disappointed, I looked towards the small window beside me and allowed myself to smile briefly as I watched the clouds go by. I'd never been on a plane, let alone a jet, before. At least this day hadn't been completely ruined. Being so high up made me feel detached from the world and, for someone with my condition- it was a good thing, but there was still something in the air, a feeling I couldn't shake off no matter how hard I tried, and I didn't like it.

"_You should tell one of the adults… it wouldn't hurt to let them know."_

Nodding, I began to stand up, but stopped when I felt a light breeze on the back of my neck. I ran a hand through my hair as I looked over my shoulder towards the roof of the jet, where I thought the wind had come from. There was nothing there, nothing that could cause a breeze. I shuddered and sat back. I had probably just imagined it.

Sighing, I faced forward, towards the seat in front of me, which was currently occupied by a newcomer named Kurt Wagner, or Nightcrawler. His mutation, from what I could see, was a physical one- blue skin with strange markings, three digit hands, a long devil's tail, yellow eyes and sharp teeth, though he did have some human qualities as well such as his dark hair. I won't lie, I freaked out a little when I first saw him, but there was this friendly, shy vibe coming from him and a he's-more-weary-of-you-than-you-are-of-him vibe as well, so I knew he wasn't a threat. He seemed to have sensed my uneasiness, so, while I made myself comfortable, I gave him a strained smile, which he returned with a nod.

"You think it's funny?" An angry voice asked, bringing me out of my thoughts and breaking the uncomfortable, deafening silence around us. It was Bobby, and he looked murderous. It was the first time I'd seen him angry. It was kind of scary, but it didn't stop him from being good looking. Oh, God, I thought rolling my eyes inwardly; I really am a teenage girl. "Let's go set fire to your house next time," he said, leaning forward. After his last comment, I knew he was talking to John about his… episode. Truth be told, I was desperately trying to forget it.

"Too late for that," John replied, nonchalantly. I felt a chill, wondering what he meant.

Marie sighed, and spoke up, "You almost killed those cops, John."

"So?" He asked, not feeling any twinge of regret about what he had done, but rather proud of it. "If push came to shove, Logan would have," he said and then added, "If he hadn't been shot." I cringed, another unflattering image of Mr. Logan on the ground, with a bullet in his head.

I looked at the back of Mr. Logan's head, he didn't seem to be listening to their conversation; he was too busy staring at the cockpit, where Dr. Grey and Ms. Monroe were at the controls. He suddenly stood up and walked towards the front. "How far are we?" He asked in his gruff voice. I tilted my head to the side; far enough to see what was going on. He was leaning against the back of the red-head mutant's chair, looking at her.

"We're actually coming up on the mansion now," she told him over the low beeping sound coming from the radar screen. She knew what he was thinking, how he felt about her, and she was flattered, but felt guilty because she kind of felt it too. I placed my hand over my chest and shook my head as I sat back in my seat. What the hell was happening to me?

"I've got two signals approaching," Ms. Monroe said and I immediately felt how worried she was about them, "Coming in fast."

There was static coming from where the three adults were, "Unidentified aircraft, you are ordered to descend to 20, 000 feet. Return with our escorts to Hanscom Air Force base," a stiff female voice commanded over the radio. "You have 10 seconds to comply." My first reaction was that it had to be some kind of a joke, a mistake, but after everything we'd all been through in the past few hours, I knew it wasn't and the fact that I could feel panic from the others confirmed that I was wrong and that it was just my wishful thinking.

"Wow. Somebody's angry."

"I wonder why," Mr. Logan replied, looking over his shoulder at John, who I had seen taking the seat in front of Mr. Wagner as we boarded the jet.

"We are coming up along side you to escorts you to Hanscom Air Force base. Lower your altitude now. Repeat, lower your altitude to 20, 000 feet," the woman said, sounding annoyed and impatient. "This is your last warning."

"They're falling back," I heard Mr. Monroe say. She sounded more suspicious than she did relieved. Furrowing my brows, I looked out the window, unsure of what to think or feel, and saw that the fighter jets were, in fact, falling back. Maybe they were leaving.

"_Oh, no. They're not done yet, far from it. Whatever happens- stay calm." _Startled by Voice's ominous warning, I jumped when I heard a loud beeping sound coming from the cockpit. I looked away from the window and leaned to the side of my seat to see what was happening.

"What?" Mr. Logan asked, head snapping towards Ms. Monroe's direction, hoping that he had heard her wrong when she said they had targeted the jet.

"They're gonna fire," she told him, looking over her shoulder towards the rest of us. I felt everyone's panic, including my own, growing by the second, "Hang on!" She faced forward as Mr. Logan made a dash for his seat, but stumbled when the jet's speed increased. I jerked forward, nearly falling out of my chair. Without a second thought, I began to put on my seatbelt, feeling desperate all of a sudden, frustrated about not being able to fasten it. I frowned and looked up from my lap after I put it on- Marie was having trouble with her seatbelt. I must have felt what she was feeling.

"I got to shake 'em," Ms. Monroe shouted as the jet flipped over on its side and then upside down. I shut my eyes and tightened my grip on my seatbelt, feeling a little queasy, so much for a nice, peaceful flight. When I opened my eyes, we were right side up, again. Thank God!

"Please don't do that again!" I heard a familiar voice say. It was John. I could almost see him as though he were right in front of me, slouched down in his seat, hands tightly gripping the armrest. I shut my eyes and shook my head. What the hell was happening to me?

Mr. Logan agreed with him and I nodded pathetically, trying to keep myself from screaming and thrashing around in my seat. "Don't we have any weapons in this heap?" He shouted over the engine, looking around, and as if on queue the air went still and the sky grew dark.

Startled and extremely curious, I looked out the window again. It looked like it was going to rain. My jaw dropped a little as I watched wispy clouds began to form, twisting into long thin tunnels. One formed and then another, and the next thing I knew the sky was filled with, at least, a dozen tornadoes. "Holy shit," I cried as the jet began to rock.

Moments later, the sky was clear again, but I couldn't shake off the feeling that something was wrong. I shuddered as I felt a light breeze on my neck, again. I quickly looked over my shoulder, not understanding why. "Everyone okay back there?" Dr. Grey asked, but I didn't turn around to look at her, I kept my eyes on the roof of the jet. Something was going to happen. I could feel it.

"No!" Mr. Logan replied as if speaking for all of us. Hearing the alarm go off again, I jumped and quickly turned towards the cockpit.

"Oh my God. There's two of 'em," Ms. Monroe said, sounding strained and panicked.

"Two of what?" I asked out loud.

"_Missiles."_

"What?!"

"_Just hold on, okay? Whatever happens- don't remove your seatbelt."_

I wanted to tell Voice not to worry- I wasn't crazy enough to take off my belt, but I stopped when I felt an overpowering emotion that I couldn't explain. I leaned forward a little, holding my stomach and silently wishing that it would go away, shortly after I heard a faint explosion from behind. The unknown emotion was gone just as fast as it appeared. I sighed in relief.

"There's one more," Ms. Monroe informed us, at least I though she was talking to all of us.

"Jean?"

Time seemed to slow down as I blinked, and the next thing I knew the roof of the jet had been hit by one of the missiles Voice had mentioned. It was then that I realized that the phantom breeze I had been feeling was foreshadowing what was to come. I jerked around in my seat violently, my hair flying everywhere, making it hard for me to see. Please, make it stop, I pleaded in my head. A sudden rush of fear, that I knew wasn't mine, hit me like a bulldozer. I looked up when I heard a scream, Marie was desperately holding on to the back of her chair, seconds later she slipped.

"Marie!" I shouted, trying to reach for her, but she was too far from me.

"Rouge!" Bobby and Mr. Logan cried out, her boyfriend desperately trying to reach for her as well, but it was already too late, she was gone, sucked out of the jet.

My attention was drawn away from the horrifying scene that had just taken place when I heard a faint _bamf_ sound. I turned around in my seat to find that Mr. Wagner was gone, too, a cloud of blue mist in his place. My jaw dropped. What the hell? Had something happened to him? My question was answered when I heard the _bamf _sound again, the same blue mist appearing. Only this time Mr. Wagner and Marie appeared in it, unharmed. I sighed in relief. They were okay, but not for long. We were all in trouble- the jet was still falling, nose first.

I could feel my face scrunch up as I closed my eyes, trying to fight off everyone else's panic, helplessness and fear. I could barely handle my own, I didn't need theirs too. Out of no where, I felt a hand grab mine. Opening my eyes, I saw that it was Bobby. He was as terrified as I was, but I couldn't help but feel grateful towards him for trying to comfort me. We looked away from each other, still holding hands. I crossed myself with my broken arm as the speed increased. I felt dizzy.

What a way to die. I kind of hoped that I would die when I was old… Oh, well.

I was pulled out of my depressing thoughts when I heard a sound from behind. Letting go of Bobby's hand, I looked up towards the roof of the jet. It was bending and twisting, slowly mending itself. The falling jet began to slow down. No fucking way! Was I crazy to assume that this was some kind of miracle?

"Jean?" Ms. Monroe called out.

"It's not me!"

I looked out the window and saw the ground getting close and then with a violent jolt the jet came to a stop. I jerked forward, the seatbelt keeping me from falling out of my chair and hitting the one in front of me. Breathing heavily, I leaned to the side and saw that there were two people standing outside of the jet, staring up at us. The jet came to a quick stop. The one that caught my attention the most was the blue, naked woman, at least I thought it was a woman and that she was naked, with slicked back red hair and yellow eyes. She strangely reminded me of Mr. Wagner. The man standing next to her seemed normal enough, an old man wearing a cape, his arm outstretched in front of him. I realized that he was the reason we were still alive, but somehow that didn't comfort me.

I suddenly felt extremely sick.


	11. Her Heavy Heart

**Chapter Eleven:  
**Her Heavy Heart

* * *

The last contents of my stomach emptied out into the toilet bowl and I shuddered in disgust. With one hand holding on to the toilet seat, I shut my eyes and waited for my stomach to settle. Unable to keep myself up, I let my legs give way underneath me and winched at the pain in my right leg. This reminded me of the last time I was sick, only, back then, I was laying in a comfortable bed with people taking care of me and not in the bathroom on some jet. It was not something I wanted to go through again. Thankfully, I knew this wouldn't last- or be as bad and painful- as the last one had, but it was still unnerving to me. My chest ached so badly, I felt like it would cave in at any moment and my head would pounding to a beat of its own. I vaguely wondered if my body was crashing again.

"_No, it's not. Don't worry. I'd be a lot more worried if it was. You're gonna be just fine, just a little nausea from too much excitement."_

_Excitement? _Before I could respond to Voice, another spoke out first.

"Feeling better, sweetie?" Dr. Grey asked, walking up behind me. Funny how I hadn't heard her coming or sensed, too distracted. There was a lot of sympathy radiating from her. I tried to shake the feeling away as best I could before I answered her, but just as I opened my mouth to reply the bile in the back of my throat burned and I lurched forward and vomited again. Footsteps quickly rushed forward and hands reached out to pull my loose hair away from my face. I had taken off my hat again.

A cold shudder went through me and another sharp pain to my stomach hit me as I wiped my mouth with the back of my hand. Disgusting, I shuddered. Shaking a little I looked over my shoulder, towards the red-headed woman and smiled appreciatively at her concern. "I-I'm feeling much better now." It was a downright lie, but she didn't need to know that my stomach was killing me and that my head was going to crack at any minute. And don't get me started on my throat- felt like I swallowed acid or something. I was tired of playing the victim. I didn't want to be the damsel anymore. I was tired of people taking care of me. Though the feeling was nice, I couldn't let her know that I was ready to keel over and possibly pass out.

But she seemed to notice my discomfort anyway because she didn't look to convinced by my answer. I could only imagine how I looked. I imagined puffy eyes, dark circles, messy hair and a pale, sickly face. Oh, yeah. That's attractive. I never wanted a bath so badly. I wanted to crawl underneath a rock, or, at least, a bed and stay there until everything went back to normal.

Whatever that was, anyway…

"Here," she said, moving away to give me room in the cramped bathroom. It was located in the lower level of the jet. Well, it was really a tight space, but how I was feeling anything would have felt cramped. "I thought you could use some water."

I took the cold bottle of water from her, gratefully and muttered a quick thanks as I sat down on the tile floor and let my back rest against a wall behind me. I gurgled some water and spit it out, wishing I had something stronger to get the nasty after taste out of my mouth. After doing that about two more times, I finally allowed myself to drink some of it. After another couple of sips, I took a deep breath and looked up at Dr. Grey, who was still standing by the door, looking tired and unwell herself.

"_She's worried about the others," _Voice whispered as if it were some big secret. And by the others I was sure It meant her fiancé and Professor Xavier. From what I'd heard, no one could get in touch with either and it was starting to unnerve the adults.

As I sat and listened, a thought came to mind. "Where is everyone?" I asked, almost shyly. It had taken me a while to notice that she and I were the only ones around, as far as I could tell, which would explain why it had gotten so quiet. When I had rushed to the bathroom, with the help of Mr. Wagner, or Nightcrawler, who had noticed that I didn't look to good, everyone had been arguing over something I didn't understand. I was glad that they were gone, though. I hated the silence, but I really hoped that no one had heard me being sick.

Dr. Grey moved forward and crouched down beside me and said, "Setting up camp."

"Camp?" I repeated, wondering if I had heard her right. She nodded. "So, we're staying overnight?" It wasn't much of a question just something I wanted her to confirm.

"I can't get the jet off the ground 'til morning, there's still a lot of damage that needs to be repaired," she replied, looking quite thoughtful. "Have you ever been camping before?" I couldn't tell if she was prying or not. She was trying to make conversation, though and I was grateful that she was trying to make me feel included by talking with me and not at me.

"Once…" I began, but quickly trailed off. The last time I had gone camping was for my brother's birthday about three or four years ago, I was never good with dates but I remember it being one of the best days of my life even though it wasn't really about me. The entire family had gone and as much as I had protested about roughing it out in the woods, I had a lot of fun. Skipping rocks at the lake, fishing, telling scary stories and pulling pranks on one another, I knew that nothing could top that day. It was one of the few happy memories I had left. After that things began going South… "But that was a really long time ago," I finally said and then asked, "What about you?"

She smiled at the memory. "Last summer with Scott," she said. "He's sort of a nature freak, though you couldn't tell by looking at him."

"Scott," I repeated the name while trying to find the face to go with it, and then I remembered. "Is he the guy that was wearing sunglasses indoors?"

She laughed and nodded, "That's the one."

"How long have you two been together," I asked and then winced slightly because I thought that I shouldn't really be asking her these things. Some things were private and I didn't like people getting into my business.

But she didn't have a problem with answering, "A couple of years…we're getting married." She smiled, but it didn't quite reach her eyes and then she frowned slightly.

"You're worried."

She nodded.

"I'm sure everything is just fine, they'll be okay." I don't know why I was trying to comfort her. I didn't even know if it was working.

"I hope you're right."

I hope so too, I added silently, but I was sure that things were about to go downhill from here. Things always did. There was never a happy ever after, especially for me or the people around me… Oh, God. I sounded like one of those drama queens that always molded a situation to make it about themselves. I wasn't like that, but it was hard not to think that way.

"Something on you mind, sweetheart?" Dr. Grey asked, brining me out of my thoughts. She was curious, but she wasn't expecting a straight answer from me and I didn't know if I wanted to give her one.

"Don't you already know?" I asked in a somewhat cheeky tone and I regretted it as soon as it left my mouth. Dr. Grey and been nothing but kind to me since I arrived at the school and here I was being rude to her because I was still a little irked, but she was a mind reader, wasn't she? Surely she knew what was wrong with me. She didn't have to ask, just listen.

"_Don't be rude_," Voice chastised. "_These people are only trying to help you, especially Jean."_

Right as always, I thought with a sigh, but the damage was done.

"I thought it would be polite if I asked," she said, tucking some of her red hair behind ears.

"You told Mr. Logan," I finally said in an accusing tone, but it came out in a rush and I wondered if she even heard me. I knew that I had promised myself that I wasn't going to hold it against her for spilling, but invading my privacy and then telling the only person who didn't look at me like some sort of freak, upset me a little

Guilt. "Yes, I did," she admitted with a slow nod. "I'm sorry. I really am. I know that it wasn't my place to tell him, but…" she sighed, "I thought it would be best for him to know."

"But why?" I asked in mild desperation and then I shook my head, dismissing the questioning I had asked. "Never mind, it's okay. It's not your fault." You were only trying to help, I added silently.

"It's not your fault either," she said and for a moment I couldn't quite understand what she meant by it, but then I turned my head in her direction and there was something in her eyes that wasn't there before. Sadness for me. And that made me angry for some reason.

"You have no idea what you're taking about," I could feel my eyes hardening. "How could you possibly know?" I asked her, my voice just a little higher than before. "You weren't even there!"

"You're right. I wasn't there," she said, moving slightly so that she was crouched in front of me. I fought the urge to move away, she was too close to me, but something was keeping me in place. "But you were. I saw what happened. It wasn't your fault," she repeated, trying hard to get that point across.

"But you don't know the whole story," I tried to argue with her. "I could have saved them."

She sighed, "If you had tried, you would have died as well. You weren't as strong then."

"I'm not strong now," I muttered quietly. I'm not anything.

"I think you are," she said and believed it. "But you're trying to suppress it, Logan told me about your barrier--"

"It was an accident," I said, sitting up, ready to defend myself. "I didn't mean to hurt him, it just happened-I warned him-he didn't listen-I tried-I couldn't-"

"Carolina, it's going to be okay," her hands made a move to grab my shoulders, but she refrained from touching me. I could feel the mother in her wanting to comfort me as best as she could, make me feel like I was safe. "Everything's going to be okay," the tips of her fingers barely touched my hair as she spoke.

I shook my head, "It's not--I can't." A lump in my throat had formed and was preventing me from speaking. My eyes were already tearing up even though I was fighting really hard not to cry. "Even if we make it through this," I began. "I can't control this power." I waited for her to speak, but when she didn't I continued. "I've tried, but I can't. I'm just so tired all I want to do is find a place to hide. This power is eating away at me and you know it."

She nodded "I'm going to help you through this," she said with dedication in her voice. "I've met so many people with powers that scared them to no end and made them think that it was going to destroy them and I'm going to help you just like I did for them. I promise you."

She was being serious. She wanted to help me.

"Am I interrupting somethin'?" A gruff voice asked from outside the other side of the doorframe.

Startled by Mr. Logan's sudden appearance, I quickly wiped my face with the back of my hands, erasing any traces of tears. I didn't need him to see me like this, it was already embarrassing enough that she had seen me crying. Dr. Grey stood up from her spot on the floor and made her way towards him, slightly blocking me from his path to give me a bit of privacy, which I thought was the whole idea.

"No," she told him and turned back to face me. "Are you going to be okay, sweetheart?"

I nodded and just as she moved to leave the room completely I called out her name. "Thank you." And I really was.

"Anytime," she responded with a wink and a smile as she left.

A part of me wish she had stayed. I really didn't want to be left alone with Mr. Logan at the moment. Maybe he had come to lecture me or something. Whatever it was, I wished that he would just go on with it so that we could move on from whatever the problem was.

"You feelin' any better?" He asked, breaking the silence first.

I turned my attention to where he was standing, arms crossed and looking as gruff as always in his white shirt and strange hair. I nodded, biting my lip a bit intimidated by his unwavering eyes. The thought of him being shot in the head sprang back into my mind and played over and over again. A loud bang, screams and a heavy thump. I'd seen plenty of things, but never someone rise from the dead. I'd never met a dead man before, but then again Mr. Logan wasn't dead. But he wasn't a zombie either. She should have been dead, but he wasn't. What was he?

"Need some help gettin' up or are ya just gonna sit there all night?"

I barely thought twice. "Please."

He walked over without a word, boots echoing through the silence until he bent down and picked me up off the bathroom floor bridal style. I jerked a little, trying hard to ignore everything and a little surprised. When he had offered to help me up, I hadn't expected him to pick me up. I thought that he'd give me a hand and let me lean on him. Instead he carried me out of the bathroom and sat me down in the nearest chair.

"Thanks," I muttered, pulling down the sleeves of my shirt. I tried really hard not to look at his face, especially his forehead, but it was impossible. How could I ignore the fact that he'd been shot and gotten up like it was nothing when it was most definitely something! All of this was making my head hurt more than it was suppose to. I raised my hand to my temple and rubbed it clockwise as I shut my eyes.

"Somethin' wrong?"

"You're suppose to be dead!" I finally said, mentally slapping myself for even opening my mouth, but once I started I couldn't stop. "The bullet hit you right in the head, the center of your forehead, and you were dead. I saw it. You were bleeding. You weren't moving. Not breathing and I thought--I thought--"

"Hey, hey, hey," he bent down so that he was at eye level with me as he spoke. "Calm down, you're getting all riled up for nothin'"

My eyes went wide, "For nothing?! Mr. Logan I don't know what part of 'you died' you don't understand. Please tell me how is it that you were shot in the head and came out alive because I don't understand."

I was frustrating him, I could feel it and I thought for a second I felt anger but it quickly turned to pity. But I didn't want pity, I wanted answers!

With a sigh, he went into his explanation. "I'm different from other mutants," he said. "I have a healing factor, it allows me to heal from any wound. And I mean any, but there's a lot more to it than that."

"Your claws and your hyped senses?"

He nodded. "I'm like you, in a way. It's why Jean told me what happened to you." He grabbed my hand, which I had been resting on my lap. "You an' I have a lot in common."

I snatched my hand away and pressed both palms against my head, ignoring the pain in my broken arm, which had dulled a little. "That's all you and Dr. Grey say, that we have a lot in common, but I don't understand what you mean." I was becoming incredibly frustrated with them both, even though I knew they were only trying to help.

He sighed and got up, and for a moment I thought he was leaving, but then he grabbed a chair and pulled it to where I was. "I know what they did to you," he said and I grew increasingly uncomfortable. "I don't know all the details, but I understand."

I waited for him to continue.

"From what I remember, I've always had this healing factor and my senses, but this," his claws cut through the skin of his knuckles and I jerked away, startled. "I wasn't born with this."

My eyes widened and I understood. "They did this to you?" He nodded, brows furrowed, frowns and all. "How?"

"Don't really know, but I'm trying damn hard to find that out."

"Does it hurt?" I asked, childishly as I stared as his hands and fought the urge to reach out and touch him.

"Every time," he replied and retracted his claws and we sat in silence for a while.

I stared at my own hands and tired to picture how it would feel to have gone through what he did, the pain he must have felt.

"_But you did_," Voice said. "_The probing and the cutting_."

I nodded and finally came to a decision, "Mr. Logan?"

"Hmm?"

"I'm ready to tell you everything."


	12. The Storyteller

**Chapter Twelve:  
**The Storyteller

* * *

The sun was already beginning to set when Mr. Logan decided that we both needed some fresh air, and I couldn't help but agree. Telling him everything was a lot harder to do than I thought, but after some encouragement from him and Voice, the words began to spill as did the tears. I told him everything and after it was done, and I know it sounds cliché, but I felt this weight lift from my chest and for the first time, in a long time, I felt good.

As we walked into the camp area, I put my hat back on and caught a glance of the two newcomers who had saved our lives earlier on. The woman was sitting by a fire, away from everyone else and the man was making his way towards Dr. Grey and Ms. Munroe. From Mr. Logan, I learned the names of our two unlikely saviors, though there wasn't anything saintly about them. The harmless looking old man with the silly helmet and cape was Erik Lehnsherr, also known best as Magneto and one of the most powerful mutants known. His bright haired companion, the tall woman with blue skin and yellow eyes was known as Mystique.

He could manipulate metal and she was a shape-shifter. Both where very dangerous to humans and any mutant that stood in their way to achieve greatness.

Mr. Logan's last statement unnerved me for some reason. I knew that there were _some_ humans that were cruel, and the idea of mutants turning on them shouldn't have surprised me, but it did. I'd been isolated from the mutant world since I could remember, but I'd always imagined that our kind would try to find a way to keep the norms from thinking that we were dangerous, even though some of us were. I didn't think we'd want to advertise them, give them a reason to hunt us down.

As he explained who they where and what they were about, my eyes never left the exotic looking woman, who strangely reminded me of Mr. Wagner, eyes and all. They could be related, I thought to myself, but threw the idea out. And as if sensing my unwavering eyes on her, Mystique looked up from the fire and locked eyes with me. I sucked in some air and turned away quickly, cheeks burning from embarrassment.

Mr. Logan seemed to notice the shape-shifter's gaze, made a sort of strange noise that sounded like a growl and began to walk towards where Bobby, Marie, Mr. Wagner and… John were sitting, quietly, gathered around a pile of branches.

He carefully sat me down in between Marie, who was now sporting a thin jacket, the same one I was wearing, and Mr. Wager. I smiled shyly at him as I made myself comfortable, which he returned. "Stay together," Mr. Logan began in a serious tone, making me turn my attention towards him. "I don't wan' any of ya walkin' off on your own, got it?" He asked, though it wasn't a question, more like a demand. One that we had no problem following, well, at least I didn't. Everyone nodded and we all watched him walk away towards the rest of the adults, followed closely by Mystique, who gave us all a quick glance.

"_She scares me_," Voice muttered quietly in my head and I asked why. "_Because she can become anyone she wants, that's dangerous." _I nodded in agreement. It was scary to think that there was someone out there with the ability to take on your appearance, but I couldn't help but think it was a cool power. And I wondered, as I watched her stand beside her companion, if she could turn into anyone she wanted, why would she continue to walk around in her mutant form. "_She's proud of who she is" _Voice replied, "_She feels she doesn't need to hide from the world." _Again, I nodded and turned away from the adults to the people who were sitting around me.

Everyone was silent and I couldn't express how disturbing the silence was. It was already dark outside, so all I could hear was the sound of crickets and I was getting cold. Bobby was on his knees with John's lighter, trying to get a fire working but it didn't seem to be working at all.

"You could help, you know," I heard Marie say, finally breaking the uncomfortable silence. She was talking to John, I realized, but he just carried on as if he hadn't heard her and didn't so much as move from his spot. She shook her head in disappointment and turned to me, eyes softening as they roamed my face with concern. "How're ya feelin'?"

I gave her a reassuring smile. "Better, but still a little tired," I replied in a low voice, hoping not to draw any unwanted attention towards myself.

She tilted her head to the side. "You're face is blotchy," she pointed out, thankfully she had lowered her voice too so no one really heard. I hoped. "Are ya sure you're all right?"

I nodded, a little embarrassed that she had noticed I'd been crying. "Must have been from all that puking," I joked, faking a giggle to cover my discomfort. Sometimes I wished that people could sense what I was feeling. Well, they could, but it wasn't very pleasant for them… "I'll be fine," I told her, tucking some of my hair behind my ear. "I just need a little rest and I'll be as good as new." It was a downright lie, but she didn't need to know that.

We both fell silent again and turned our attention to Bobby's lame attempt to get the fire going. My eyes flickered towards John, his eyes were on his polar opposite and I could feel this anger coming from him, but his face was blank. I suddenly felt myself wishing I knew what he was thinking.

"_If you can barely handle feeling other people's emotion, imagine what it would be like to have different thoughts, voices, invading your head."_

V was right and I could only imagine what Dr. Grey had to go through.

Trying not to think on the matter, I looked away from John to Bobby, who was now on his hands an knees, leaning uncomfortably close to the pile of sticks. He was blowing on the embers, trying to get the small fire to catch. I smiled at his mild successes and at the irony. The iceman was trying to make fire. It was silly.

Suddenly the small fire, that was meant to keep us warm, erupted into a tower of flame. Bobby dived back as quickly as he could, trying hard to avoid getting burned and I jerked back as well, even though I was at a safe distance from the fire, but I couldn't stop the startled gasp from escaping my lips. I covered my mouth with my hand, hoping no one had heard.

"Asshole," Bobby growled, shooting John a dirty look as he made a motion to hit him, but Marie reached out to grab her boyfriend's arm before he could do anything drastic. John responded with a smile, but when his eyes caught mine, the grin vanished and he looked away, his mask falling back in its place as he stared into the fire he helped create.

From beside me, Mr. Wagner relaxed and I turned to face him, smiling again. His outer appearance was strange, but his soul was pure as strange as that may seem and I felt an urge to connect with him.

"My names Carolina," I told him, holding out my hand. It was the first time I had ever put myself out there for someone. "I never got to properly introduce myself."

He tilted his head forward, understandingly and reached for my hand, shaking it gently. "I am Kurt Wagner," he let go and sat up a bit and added, "But in the Munich circus, I was known as The Incredible Nightcrawler!"

I giggled a little. "Yeah, I know. I was sitting behind you when you were introducing yourself but, uh, Mr. Logan cut you off."

"Yes," he nodded, a bit put-off by the thought of intimidating man and I noticed that he was fidgeting with a rosary.

"I like your beads," I told him, conversationally, hoping to lift his spirit again. "They're very pretty."

"Danke," he smiled, "It was given to me by a friend, I knew long ago."

"Hey," Bobby called out and Mr. Wagner and we turned our attention towards him. He was now sitting beside Marie, staring at the group of adults standing in a circle, talking amongst themselves in secrecy. "Can either of you hear what they're saying?" He asked us.

"They're being too quiet," Marie responded, eyes on the group as well. I could feel the animosity coming from her, it was mostly directed towards the older man and I wondered why.

Mr. Wagner shifted slightly in his seat, making me turn to look in his direction. "I… I could take a closer look," he offered shyly.

"How?" I asked, eyes roaming his face. The markings on his skin where so strange and yet very appealing.

He smiled mischievously and _bamf _in a cloud of smoke, he disappeared, leaving the rest of us in awe.

"Nice," Bobby muttered and the rest of us nodded in agreement. "How long do you think it'll take before they realize that he's there?"

"If Mr. Logan doesn't sense him, Dr. Grey certainly will."

"I'm sick of this," John suddenly muttered, tossing a twig he'd been messing with towards the camp fire and stood up, storming away from the camp fire and into one of the tents.

Wide eyed, I turned to Marie and Bobby, taken aback.

"What's his problem?" She asked, bewildered.

Bobby shrugged and stood up as well, wiping his hands on his pants. "You know John - he has his mood swings. I'll be back," he told us. Got to use to bathroom."

Marie and I watched him jog towards the jet and up the steps. I was the first to turn away, eyes landing on the burning wood. The fire was going strong and I couldn't help but be hypnotized by the dancing flames. I hated fire. Feared it more. The screaming and the panic back at the Drake's house had hit home and I felt as though I were reliving my past. Sometimes I can still feel the heat on my skin. I wondered if John would have killed all those people. If Marie hadn't stopped - wait.

"Hey, Marie."

"Yeah?"

"I've been meaning to ask you something." She looked at me, waiting for me to continue. "Back at Bobby's house, what was it that you did to John when he… you know…?" I trailed off, hoping she understood what I was trying to ask.

She nodded, understandingly, pursed her lips and turned away before she began her explanation. "Um, ah'm sure you've noticed that ah always wear gloves and try to keep as much of mahself covered," she said, staring at her gloved hands. "Well, see, mah mutation is dangerous to others. If ah touch someone, ah can take their… life-force. People get hurt, they could die, but if ah touch 'em for a certain time ah absorb their memories and if they're like us - their powers."

I frowned as she spoke. "So what you did to John…"

"Was necessary," she finished, though it sounded like she was trying very hard to defend herself. "Ah only touched him long enough to be able to control what he was doing, not to kill him."

I nodded, taking everything in and felt a little guilty about thinking my power was the worst. Not being able to have skin to skin contact with people must be torture. I now understood what Bobby and Mr. Logan meant when we were sitting in the kitchen of the school. It must be hard for him and Marie.

"What can you do?"

I looked at her, startled. I should have known that she would ask and I really shouldn't have been, but it was only fair to share with her what she had shared with me. "I'm an Empath. I can feel other peoples emotions."

A shadow fell over her face. "Well, ah guess that's two things we have in common - we're both strays and our powers suck," she finished with a grin.

I laughed a little because she was right.

After a while, we both fell silent again and somewhere along the way my thoughts drifted back to John, and I suddenly got this overpowering urge to go talk to him, but I didn't know if it was a good idea. He'd never struck me as a people person and I was afraid he'd reject me as I had done so to him, but I felt that he needed to know what I reacted the way he did. I wasn't afraid of him, just the ability over fire that he possessed. "Maybe I should to talk to him…" I thought out loud.

"Who, John?" Marie asked in surprise. "Are ya sure?" I nodded, positive. He needed to know. "Okay, do ya need help getting over there?"

I shook my head. "I'll be okay, thanks." I smiled and carefully got up, making my way towards where John was.

"_Are you sure you want to tell him?"_

You told me to trust more.

"_Yes" _Voice said and I could hear Its frustration. "_But are you sure you want it to be him."_

I didn't answer Voice right away. The knots forming in my stomach were making it difficult for me to think properly and my hands were shaking. I was nervous about telling him my story. I had already told it once, so it shouldn't have bothered me to tell it again, but it did.

_You like him more than you'd like to admit, that's why you're nervous._

Voice's statement made the heat in my cheeks rise, but I ignored it and stopped when I finally reached John's tent.

"John," I called out to him, figuring it would be rude if I had just barged in unannounced. "It's Carolina, can we talk?" I asked, but I received no reply. Maybe he was asleep. I decided to try one more time, at least. "John--?"

"What do you want?" Came a sharp reply from within the tent. He was angry.

My nerves told me to just give up and go, but I really needed to get the rest of this unwanted weight off my chest. "I just want to talk…. Can I come in?"

For a while he didn't reply, and all I heard was the quiet chatter from Marie and Bobby back at the camp fire and then John appeared, opening the front of the tent for me to enter. I nodded, giving thanks and crawled inside. We sat in silence for a while, him staring at me while my eyes nervously darted back and forth.

"You wanted to talk," he said, face blank and unreadable. I knew that he was hurt and upset, I just wished that he would show it. "So talk."

"I'm sorry," I started off and his face visibly softened a bit. "I shouldn't have reacted the way that I did."

"_You don't have to tell him_," Voice screamed in my head and I winched, bringing my hand up to rub my temple. "_You could stop here!"_

"Are you okay?" John asked, trying to get me to look at him.

I nodded, ignoring Voice's plea and continued. "I need to tell you something, something that'll help you understand why I am the way that I am, but I need for you to listen and not interrupt because if you do, I might not be able to continue." It was the same order I gave Mr. Logan, I think he was in to much shock to disagree. John reacted in the same way and I began. I took a deep breath and began.

"I was one of four kids, to start out with. I had two sisters- one older, the other younger. My twin, Michael and I were in the middle, but he was eight minutes older than I was, so he liked to boss me around. I got along best with my older sister, she was a lot of fun. Use to tell her everything and vice versa. We all got along fairly well for siblings, but we had our difference," I smiled fondly at the memories of my family, the way we use to be before everything changed.

"But things changed when dad found out that my older sister was a mutant. See, my sister had superhuman speed and could sense other mutants when they were near. She was sixteen when she left, couldn't take dad bagging on her all the time and mom ignoring her. Told me that it would be in my best interest to leave with her, but I couldn't understand why she wanted me to tag along. I was only thirteen and scared out of my mind. Where were we suppose to go? She left without us and a couple of months later I realized why she had wanted me to go.

"I began getting these vibes from people I walked by or touched. I knew what they were feeling. I couldn't block them out and it was driving me crazy. I had to resort to hiding in the basement of my home or under my bed. My family just thought I was depressed."

"_You can still stop, you don't have to tell him the rest. Just leave it there, walk away! "_

I shook my head to stop Voice from shouting. I couldn't understand why it didn't want me to tell John. I know that I had worked hard to bury these memories, but keeping them there just wasn't helping me. I looked up at John, he hadn't said anything like I asked, but now I wish he would say something. Anything. He was just sitting there, looking at me, waiting for me to continue, so I did.

"I stopped talking to my parents and younger sister and I barely spoke to Michael. For some reason, I didn't feel as much when I was around him. It was strange, but with the rest of my family- I just couldn't be around them. I couldn't be around anyone… I couldn't count how many times I burst into tears because of the pain that belonged to someone else. It was so embarrassing. I did a good job at hiding what I was, but one night my parents were fighting about my older sister. Mom wanted to go find her, dad couldn't care less. She was scum to him, didn't deserve to breathe the same air. He only had three children now, he screamed in mom's face and I could feel the furry coming from them both and I snapped.

"'Who are you to decide who should live or die, you're no saint! Calli isn't the monster, you are!' and he raised his hand to hit me, something he'd never done, but my barrier knocked him clear across the room before he could touch me. I freaked out, it was the first time I'd used that power and I-I didn't know what to do.

"Mom freaked out and Michael came running to see what was going on. When he saw me crying, he rushed over to me, not even bothering with dad, even though he saw him sprawled out on the floor, but mom shouted for him not to go near me.

"Dad woke up some time later, but I had already locked myself in my room. It took Michael a long time before he could convince me to come down. Neither of my parents would look at me, even after I had apologized. I could feel the hostility coming from dad and mom was torn. She wanted to hate me, but she couldn't. I was her baby. A few night later, while Irene and Michael were out running an errand for mom men came to take me away. Mom was crying and saying that it was for my own good, dad didn't seem to be phased. I kicked and screamed all the way to the van so they drugged me."

I remembered that night so well. I screamed so loud for my mom to stop them from taking me, but all she did was cry and tell me that everything would be okay.

"Carolina?"

"Huh?" I blinked, John's voice bringing me out of my thoughts. How long had I zoned out? "Oh, sorry I-- anyway…um. They took me to a place specifically designed for mutants. I woke up in a room, a man with glasses, Stryker was his name, was sitting beside me and told me that they were going to help me get better, that what I was could be cured. I believed him and then it started.

"The poking, the cutting and…" I shook my head, rubbing the side of my face. I wasn't going to cry again, but every time I thought about what they did, I could feel it. "They did things to me, to us, the rest of the mutants that were there. Things that shouldn't have been done. They kept us drugged and it dulled our minds and bodies so we wouldn't fight. I was crazy for a long time, thought I was gonna be trapped there forever, but then there was this man, a nurse who took care of some of us. He helped us escape. Only ten of us made it out of that place. I was sixteen.

"Somehow I made it home, didn't even know if my family still lived there, but they did. Mom was so happy to see me. I was so surprised that she had been expecting me at all. Turns out they had called her, told her that they should be immediately contacted if and when I arrived. Mom told them to go to hell. Michael and Irene welcomed me back with open arms. Irene had been nine when they took me away, she'd grown up so much. Dad was gone, I learned. Michael confessed to mom shortly after I was taken away that he was a mutant to and dad left, he couldn't take it. Mom had told him that she had already lost two kids, she wouldn't give up another.

"Everything was suppose to go back to normal after that, but it didn't." I told him, my voice breaking. "Mom was trying to get me back to school and I was catching up on what I had missed, but then things started back up again and I decided I needed air and went for a walk, but when I got back…" I took a deep breathe, this was the part of the story that always got to me. "When I got back my house was on fire and there were people gathered around and I could hear screaming. I made it into the foyer of the house, everything around me was burning and I couldn't breathe. People rushed in and pulled me out, dragged me away

"Irene was the only one who made it out of the fire, the only body they found, but she died a couple of days later from her burns and that was when those horrible people came after me. I didn't even get a chance to bury my sister, I just ran. I couldn't go back to that place. I ran away. But the drugs I had been taking were wearing off, I stopped taking them a long time ago, I thought they were making me sick. This couple found me out in the road, was awake enough to plead with them not to take me to the hospital. They took care of me while my body crashed. I had become so use to the drugs in that place I had almost become dependent of them.

"They asked if they should call someone. I told them I didn't have anyone. After some discussion on their part, they offered me a place to stay until I got back on my feet. They were nice people, Owen and Gwen, very lonely. They didn't have kids." I had almost grown to love them. "Things were normal for the most part. I never did tell them that I was a mutant, didn't think it was safe, but…. Gwen worked on getting me registered at the local high school and Owen got me a job at a video store.

"They set me up a room in the basement, they noticed that I liked to hide there sometimes. I was with them for a very long time and they helped me mourn the loss of my family, but things started happening." I didn't want to bring up Voice, didn't need John thinking I was crazy.

"There were these two guys - Ben and Dan - didn't like me very much. They found out I was a mutant, turned out Stryker and some other men had hunted me down and offered Ben and Dan money if they could bring me to them. So, they knocked me Knocked me out and drove me out into the woods…. Didn't even get a chance to say goodbye to Gwen or Owen, they must be worried. I don't think they know what happened…. Anyway, um, I managed to escape but not before getting some nasty injuries. That was when Mr. Logan found me."

I was so relieved to have gotten that off my chest but the look on John's face…. He didn't know what to feel. He was angry, confused… all of these emotions.

"Why did you tell me all of this?" He asked, uncharacteristically.

"Because I wanted you to know," was my reply. "I don't want to be alone anymore. I just want a friend who I don't have to hide from."

"But why me, why not Rogue or Popsicle?" He asked as he began to play with his lighter. "You're closer to them than me." He was nervous, So I reached out and grabbed his hand.

"I just wanted you to know." When he didn't say anything, I began to move my hand away, but he placed his other one over mine to keep it there.

"I burned down my house when I was twelve," he told me out of the blue. "We were having a barbeque out in the backyard, close to the house and I was arguing with my dad about something stupid. They disowned me when they realized what I was. Lived out in the streets for the most part, but then Professor Xavier found me, told me about the school and I said to hell with it, I got nothing to lose."

"What a pair we make, huh?"

"Yeah."

We grew silent, taking in what we had learned about each other.

"Do you think we'll ever fit in the world?" I asked, hopefully.

He shook his head, "No." I couldn't hate him for being so blunt. "Not unless we do something about it. We shouldn't have to fear what we are, shouldn't have to hide."

"You sound like my older sister," I told him. "She's still out there, you know. But I don't know if she knows what happened. It's been a long time since I've seen her or spoken to her."

"What was your sister's name?" He asked.

"Callisto. Her name's Callisto."


	13. Magneto and Mystique

**Chapter Thirteen:  
**Magneto and Mystique

* * *

Callisto leaving home was what I always thought triggered my mutation. Every Mutant had their turning point in life. That one special trigger that changed them. I always thought that mine was when my sister decided to pack her bags and leave home. At the time, I felt that our home just wasn't a home without her and that my family wasn't complete. It had broken my heart, almost literally and I was only thirteen. I had never really suffered a terrible tragedy before, not really, but the day she left was the start of everything.

Sometimes I wished that I had just gone with her when she asked. "Come with me," she had said, eyes pleading, holding her hand out to me. I could still hear her voice in my head. "You can't stay here, Carrie, bad things will happen."

Carrie was what she used to call me, always said that Carolina sounded way too grown-up for me, a little too dramatic like in those Spanish soap operas mom liked to watch in the morning. I never complained about the nickname and I never really gave her a straight answer.

I just stood there, dumbstruck. I kept thinking that there was no way she was serious, but she was and she left and I never got to say goodbye properly. If I had gone with her though, none of this would have ever happened. I wouldn't have hurt dad, giving him another reason to hate Mutants more than he already had. I wouldn't have been sent to that hellhole Mutant facility and gone crazy. My family would still be alive and I wouldn't be sitting in the back of a jet on my way to only God knows where.

But one could never go back and change the past, not unless you were some sort of time-traveler….

Either way, though, I stayed and that was the end of it, but I still couldn't help but wonder what would have happened if I had left or if she had stayed. How messed up would my life have been as opposed to how it was now?

"_You're life's not so bad," _V argued. "_Things could have been a lot worse and you know it."_

I mentally rolled my eyes. Of course. I couldn't sulk for one minute without Voice having to ad its opinion.

"_Well excuse me for trying to remain optimistic. If you want to sulk, go on ahead, it's fine by me."_

"Don't be an ass," I muttered quietly to V, aware that I was probably receiving strange stares, mostly from the newcomers. Upon entering the jet, Mr. Logan had sat me down, very close to the exit and, much to my dismay, the pair had sat down across from me and I tried my best not to show how uncomfortable I was, but how could I when they seemed to be sizing me up? Especially the blue woman.

I could only take so much. There was so much tension, and there was this uneasiness in the air full of confusion and distrust. I almost felt angry and was afraid that I'd act on it, but I'd grown over the years. I barely acted on what I felt, but still. When we first got back into the jet, baddies included, everything was okay. Well, it was as okay as it would ever be. I could feel bits and pieces here and there, but once we sat down and took off it was completely different.

I had closed my eyes, hoping I could try to detach myself from everyone, but it just didn't seem to be working and having the older man and woman staring at me was getting on my nerves. So it really didn't surprise me much when I finally told them, "I really don't appreciate being stared at."

The two didn't even so much as blink at the sound of my voice, actually they looked mildly amused. John, who was sitting near Magneto (it's so hard calling him by that name), quirked an eyebrow, surprised.

The older man, unfazed by my words but very curious, chuckled while the red-headed woman smiled, showing off her perfectly white teeth, which stood out from her blue skin. It wasn't a smile I was use to, at least not one I had seen recently. It made me uneasy, like she knew something I didn't. "You must excuse my companion and I," he said, motioning to her with his hand. I titled my head slightly, listening to his voice as he pronounced every word. He was what I imagined a Grandfather would sound like. "We merely stare because my friend seems to think that she knows you from someplace. Perhaps she is mistaken?" He asked, almost as if he was challenging me to disagree.

I sat in silence for a bit, confused by the situation. I couldn't feel any hostility from either of them, if anything it was curiosity and something else I couldn't pinpoint. My eyes strayed from the older man to the woman, who was no longer smiling. "You've got the wrong girl," I told them, looking elsewhere. My eyes landed on the three adults, Mr. Logan, Ms. Munroe and Dr. Grey, who were all standing at the cockpit, talking amongst themselves.

They had been acting strange since we boarded the jet, talking to each other in secret and I was more than a little curious. We all were. Especially Marie, Bobby, John and I.

"Are you quite certain?" He asked, catching my attention again. He had leaned forward and was staring at me.

"Positive."

"Well," he said, leaning back against his seat. He clasped his hands together and let them rest on his lap as he glanced at his companion before looking back at me. "If you are sure, than who am I to question you?" And I thought that was the end of our awkward conversation, but it just seemed to be the start of it. "How long have you been studying at Xavier's school?"

"Not long," I replied truthfully.

"Ah," he said, nodding slightly. "And before that?"

I shifted in my seat, eyes darting from place to place. "_You don't have to answer that_," Voice said, reminding me of a lawyer. "With family," I told him, which was almost true. I told him I'd been staying with family, but I didn't necessarily say that it was mine.

"Now was that before or after your stay at the facility?"

I blinked, letting what he asked sink it. I almost choked on my own spit and I immediately looked over to John, who had apparently been listening to the conversation as well because when our eyes met he looked a little shocked as well. Had they somehow heard our conversation the night before, or did they have some type of telepathic power? "I-I don't know what you're talking about," I finally said, stuttering a little.

"Really?" He asked, amused by my denial. I could almost feel my left eye twitch in annoyance and I wished somebody, more specifically Mr. Logan, would come over and pull me away. Everyone had turned their attention towards our conversation now, excluding the other adults. Bobby and Marie hadn't been sitting very far from us either, so it didn't surprise me that they were overhearing every word we were saying. "Because my friend believes otherwise. You see," and he leaned forward as if it were some big secret he was telling me. "She spent quite some time in that awful place."

I think my eyes widened at the moment as I turned my attention towards her. She just didn't seem to be the type of person who would allow themselves to be caught so easily. I wondered how long he meant by 'quite some time'. I had spent almost three years there, but I never once saw her. I barely saw any other Mutant there during my stay there. The only time I interacted with them was when we escaped that night. "I don't know what you're talking about…" I said, trying hard to keep with my story, but it was getting harder.

"Now, now, there is no need to be shy, we all share a common bond."

"I don't…I don't remember."

He smiled, secretly. "No, of course you wouldn't. She looked slightly different then," and motioned towards her with his head.

I followed his gaze and watched as she… changed. It started from her toes and worked its way up. Her bare legs were now covered in loose blue pants and a uniformed shirt appeared, covering her chest and when I looked at her face she, or rather he, looked familiar.

I gasped a little, standing up from my seat in fright. "Y-you," I said, pointing a finger at her, him in disbelief. It was the man who had helped release us from the facility. "I don't understand. It was you?" I asked her-him.

"Did you honestly believe a pathetic meat-sack would be intelligent enough to release you from that place?" He asked, speaking to me as if I were stupid to even think it. God, she even sounded like him. No, wait! D-did he ever even exist? Oh, my head hurt.

I rubbed my forehead. "Why?" I asked, not needing to explain what I was asking.

"Because," it was Magneto who spoke this time. "Even a baddie, as you say, can perform a good deed once in a blue moon."

I wasn't sure why it bothered me so much to see her in the form of the man who rescued me. Maybe it was because Mr. Logan had made them out to be one of the bad guys and I felt a tinge of sadness because I had thought a Norm had set us Mutants free because he'd seen and felt sorry for the way we were treated. It was a huge letdown.

"Carolina?" Said a female voice and I realized it was Marie. She was beside Bobby and they both looked concerned and confused. Great, I thought, know they would start asking questions about what Magneto had meant and I didn't really want to answer them.

Shaking my head as a way of saying that I didn't want to talk about it, I decided that who I really needed to speak to was Mr. Logan, or, any of the adults, really. With one last look at the Mystique, who had turned back into her blue and exotic self, and Magneto, I limped towards the adults, ignoring the curious stares I was receiving.

By the time I reached them, I had barely caught the last few words that had left Mr. Logan's mouth, "…into Stryker's base without anybody noticing."

I froze, mid-step and my insides went could. "Stryker?" I asked, voice squeaking a little. All eyes were on me in an instant. . Had it been any other time, I might have been uncomfortable by their attention, but at the moment I couldn't hardly bring myself to care about my shyness. Were they talking about breaking into Stryker's base? Were they out of the freaking minds?

"Carrie," Ms. Monroe started and I blinked, surprised. My sister was the only one who called me that, which was why it probably sounded so weird hearing her say it.

"Stryker?" I asked again, ignoring the white haired woman, eyes darting to each of their faces but more to Mr. Logan than one. "Stryker?" I repeated once more, louder and sounding like a broken record as I stared directly at him. I was angry and felt slightly betrayed. I could feel movement behind me, but I ignored it. I stared at the three adults, incredulously and the emotions I was receiving just seemed to fuel my anger, but I tried hard to keep it from surfacing. "Y-you want to break into Stryker's base?"

They exchanged looks.

Oh, God. They were actually considering going. How could they be so stupid? Didn't they know what was going to happen if that maniac got his hands on them? He was a monster, flat out. No remorse for what he had ever done. One would think that Mr. Logan had more common sense about the situation.

_He doesn't remember what was done to him, _Voice reminded me quietly.

"Sweetie," Dr. Grey said as she moved towards me like she was afraid I would take off if she got to close. "You don't understand."

"No, you don't understand," I told her, angry all of a sudden, but the sad thing was I couldn't tell if I was really upset about them leading us into danger or if I was feel it from someone else. That's main things that sucked about being an Empath, you never know if what you're feeling is real. I shook my head trying to rid myself of all thoughts as I looked back at Mr. Logan. "You don't remember what he did to you, not really," I said, holding his gaze as I limped towards him. He was extremely tall, well, at least to me he was. "Maybe if you did, you wouldn't want to go back. You'd understand what it means to be afraid. You don't remember, but I do and you'd understand why I cant go back to that place."

He frowned, brows furrowed. "Kid, what--" I didn't let him finish his sentence, and without really thinking it through, I grabbed his head in my hands, ignoring the pain that shot through my arm and closed my eyes, concentrating on what I wanted him to feel.

I dug deep and felt my head snap back so hard, I thought it might fall off. My eyes went wide and rolled into the back of my head. I could feel a mixture of anger and fear rolling out of me in waves and a distant voice shouting at me to stop, but didn't. He had to see, had to feel. He had to understand. I could hear screaming in my head. Tortured screams and a lot of pain. The screams grew louder. Was it me? Mr. Logan?

I felt warm, callous hands grabbing my wrist, trying to pull me away. Eventually, they succeeded and I staggered back, shocked and gasping for air. My head was throbbing, room spinning. I had never done that before. Blinking, I looked over to where Mr. Logan was standing, or rather kneeling.

"Oh my God, Logan!"

"My, my, my," Magneto said, applauding as he stood from his seat, watching the show. Bobby, Marie, John and Mr. Wagner were looking as well, shocked and confused about what I had just done. "The great Wolverine, brought down to his knees by a simple young girl." He then turned his eyes to me. "Impressive." And I could almost hear the wheels turning in his head.

"Don't get any ideas," Mr. Logan growled from his spot on the floor, glaring daggers at the older man, but he was confused. I could feel it. There was something not right. He turned to me, eyes flashing, nose flaring and it reminded me a bit of when we were back at the school when the soldiers attacked. I didn't know if I should be worried for my life at that moment, but when he stood and walked over to me, my heart nearly popped out of my chest in fear. Grabbing me by the arm, he pulled me towards the very front of the jet, ignoring the concerned looks Dr. Grey and Ms. Monroe were shooting him, and sat me down. "Don't. Ever. Do that again," he warned, pointing a finger at me and I felt very much like a scolded child.

"I'm sorry," I squeaked, rubbing my sore arm and feeling guilty about what I had done.

His hard eyes softened a little and he sort of let himself collapse to the floor. Breathing heavily, he looked up at me and I could see how worn out he looked.

"I'm sorry," I repeated, knowing the strain I had put on him. I shouldn't have done it, but I had panicked. I wasn't very good at expressing my feelings, which seemed weird seeing how I'm an Empath. "I'm so sorry."

"What did you do to me?"

"I transferred some of the feelings I had bottled up for a long time," I told him, trying to explain, which was a lot harder. Explaining what I could do was hard, especially because I barely understood myself. "I couldn't think of any other way to show you," I said, placing my face in my hands when I started to feel a lump in my throat. I wasn't going to allow myself to cry. "I just can't go back to that place."

Mr. Logan sighed deeply. "He's taken about half a dozen kids from the school," he said making me look up at him. "They're alone and in the clutches of the man you're scared of, imagine how they feel." I suddenly felt very selfish and embarrassed by the way I had acted. Stupid. Those kids must be terrified. "We wouldn't be riskin' you in any way. You, John, Marie and Bobby are staying in the Jet, you'll be safe as long as you stay put," he pressed his hand against my face and looked at me reassuringly. "You're gonna be all right."

I nodded, muttering another apology as we walked out of the cockpit. Everyone was looking at us curiously, wondering what the hell had happened. Instead he launched into an explaination of what was going on and what was going to happen to everyone else. We were all to stay put, with the exception of the adults and when they were done explaining they began to suit up.

Marie and Bobby stood in front of a glass case, admiring a leather uniform.

"Why don't we get uniforms?" Marie asked.

"Yeah, where's ours?" Bobby added.

"There on order," Mr. Logan responded as he adjusted his suit and closed a similar looking glass case back into the wall of the plane. "Should arrive in a couple of years," he finished and walked away from the two without looking back to see the look on their faces. It almost made me want to laugh.

Hearing the sound of a hearty chuckle, I turned my attention towards Magneto and found that John had as well. Mystique was leaning close to me, whispering something only they could hear and then motioned to something with her head. Marie was looking at them now as well, curious but face blank. Bobby still had his back turned to us all, but when Magneto spoke he looked over his shoulder, turning his body slightly.

"We love what you've done to your hair," he teased her without even trying to hide his amusement.

I could feel the anger rising in Marie as she calmly removed one of her gloves and took a step towards them, eyes never leaving his face.

"Hey, hey," Bobby grabbed her before she could take another step. "Come on," he said, pulling her towards him. "Come on. Let's go."

"Rogue," Ms. Munroe called to her gently at the same time, unaware of the exchange that had just happened. "Come here." She was also sporting a suit that resembled Mr. Logan's only she had a cape.

I could barely hear what she was telling her. "After we touch down and go in, you're in charge." She turned her back to me and continued on. "If anything happens to us… use the ascension control to get the plane off the ground-- do not try to control the plane while its in the air," she said, firmly. "The auto-navigation will fly you home."

"Then what?" I heard Bobby ask as he moved behind Marie.

"You've all got superpowers. Figure it out," Logan responded.

I attempted a smile at his sense of humor, but couldn't find the energy to do so. I still felt guilty about what I had done to him. No matter how bad things got, I had always promised myself to protect others from my feelings, knowing that I could multiply any emotion ten times as worse than what it really was. The only time I had ever used it against someone was Ben and that was to protect myself. And the thought of even being near Stryker sent me into a fit of hysterics. Mr. Logan had already promised that he wouldn't allow me to be taken away, but I was still scared for the rest of them.

Flick. Click.

I turned my attention to John, who was now playing with his lighter. I had barely even noticed, the sound no longer bothering me as much as it used to. He open and closed his lighter once more before looking at the older man and his companion sitting beside him. They were both staring at the air in front of them. "So, you're the bad guy," he said, conversationally and I wondered why he would even bother.

Magneto barely turned his head a little towards John's direction but didn't look at him. "Is that what they say?"

John nodded. "That's a dorky looking helmet," he said changing the subject as he turned on and off his lighter. "What's it for?"

"This dorky looking helmet is the only thing that's going to protect me from the _real_ bad guys." he responded, holding out his hand and levitating John's lighter away from him. John sat up a little, startled and slightly annoyed. "What's your name?" He asked, staring that the lighter in his hand.

"John."

"What's you real name, John?"

John held his hand out a little and the fire from the lighter transfers itself to his hand and he holds it in his palm like anyone could do it. "Pyro," he said, staring at the flame.

"Quite a talent you have there, Pyro," Magneto compliments him, thoroughly impressed.

John, however, barely felt the same. "I can only manipulate the fire," he told him, and I could feel the heat of the small flame even from where I was sitting and it didn't help my nerve at all. Finally noticing my discomfort, he closes his fist and the flame dies. "I can't create it."

"You are a God among insects. Never let anyone tell you different," Magneto said, eyes shifting to me and then back to John as he held out the lighter for him to take. He does and I get this awful feeling that he had just accepted something more than just his lighter.

"Okay," Ms. Monroe said, walking towards us. "Everyone gather around."

"_I really don't like where this is going_," Voice said and I wanted to respond that I didn't either.


	14. Alkali Lake

**Chapter Fourteen:  
**Alkali Lake

* * *

The jet had landed in Alkali lake, hidden behind snowy trees with a great view of the mountains and I thought to myself that I would have enjoyed it more if it were under different circumstances. It was beautiful. There was a sparkling lake, tall tree, as mention before, that reminded me of Christmas and I could have sworn I saw a deer darting behind a bush.

"All right this is the Topographic map of the dam," Ms. Munroe said and I turned my attention towards the floating 3D hologram she was pointing to. We'd all gathered around it, including Magneto and Mystique but they had kept to the back, away from the rest of us. They seemed so out of place standing there, looking on, unfazed. "This is the spillway. You see these density changes in the terrain?" She clicked a button and suddenly the holographic map changed into something that looked like a tunnel with white lines coming in and out of the spillway, "They're tire tracks."

Pointing to the map, Mr. Logan announced, "That's the entrance."

"Mm-hmm," she nodded, tongue sticking out a little as she changed the map once again. "And this shows the depth of ice that's covering the ground. Now, this is the recent water activity," and the entrance of the tunnel and spillway were all deep blue.

"If we go in there," said Dr. Grey, who was sitting at the front of the jet, legs crossed and hands on her lap. She looked a little weary but determined. "Stryker could flood the spillway," she pointed out, voicing everyone else's thoughts.

Turning to Mr. Wager, Ms. Munroe asked him, "Can you teleport inside?"

He shook his head, apologetically. "No, I have to be able to see where I am going… otherwise I could end up inside a wall," he added with a nervous giggle, looking down at his hands.

"I'll go," Mr. Logan volunteered. My eyes darted in his direction and I found he was also looking at me. He looked a bit strained from what I had done to him and I could still feel that lingering anger and fear that I had left behind. There was this pain in my chest as I silently begged him not to go. However, it seemed he was determined and wouldn't back down. "I have a hunch he'll want me alive," he added and I wondered if he was trying to reassure me.

Stupid macho complex, I thought to myself. He'll want to dissect you!

"Wolverine," Magneto spoke up. "Whoever goes into the dam needs to be able to operate the spillway," he said, walking through the hologram and I watched it dissolve and come together in fascination. "What do you intend to do? Scratch it with your claws?

The anger in Mr. Logan could not be mistaken, but he hid it well on his face as he stepped towards the older mutant and held his chin out a little. "I'll take my chances."

Giving Mr. Logan an unimpressed looked, Magneto said, "But I wont," and turned to look over his shoulder at his exotic friend, who was still standing at the same spot as before, and then everyone seemed to understand.

The corners of lips curled a little as her eyes scanned everyone's face and the stopped on Mr. Logan's and then suddenly she was taking on his appearance, strange hair and all. If I hadn't known she was a shape-shifter, I would have thought she was the real deal.

I looked away from the impostor, unsettled, and turned to the real one. He didn't look very happy to have someone else looking like him, but he seemed to understand that it was the best chance those kids had to getting them out alive and unharmed. "Fine," he said, turning away.

"Okay," Ms. Monroe said, turning the hologram off. "Let's get to work.'

Before leaving the jet, Magneto and Mystique shared a look that I couldn't decipher. There were also a lot of mixed emotions as well. Either way, whatever it was he was telling her with his look, she seemed to understand because she smirked a little and walked out of the jet and into the freezing cold. Despite everything, I hoped that she'd make it out okay and in one piece. Who knows what Stryker would do if he had a shape-shifter.

"Hey," John nudged me as he took a seat beside me. He had been sitting beside Mr. Wagner before, while Ms. Monroe had been talking. Now, the rest of the adults had gathered around a screen and seemed to be monitoring something. "You okay?"

I was tired of people asking me if I was okay, but I wasn't going to get snippy about it. "Yeah," I nodded, smiling reassuringly, but on the inside I was screaming. Being so close to where that man was, was driving me up the wall. "How long do you think it'll take them to go in and out?"

He shrugged, "Don't know, but they're pretty well trained. Shouldn't take very long."

"Yeah, you're probably right," I agreed, trying very hard to do so. I had to keep reminding myself that they were well trained and had a very good handle of their powers from what I could see. They were probably used to this sort of thing and I would just have to deal.

I looked at John and smiled at him and, to my surprise, he returned it. It seemed that whatever trouble we'd had at the start and been resolved and I found myself becoming very comfortable in his presence, despite his love of fire. We'd become good friends in the last couple of days. The talk we'd had last night was proof of that. I was still a bit tired from lack of sleep.

"Stryker!" I heard a voice shout from behind me. It was loud, echo-y and I realized that it was Mr. Logan's voice, only he was still in the jet. Mystique, I realized. "Stryker!" She shouted again and I bit my thumbnail.

"Move or your dead," said an unfamiliar male voice and I could hear the distinct sound of clinking and clanking, along with other noises. Then there were some hushed tones, followed by shouting. "Seal the room! Step away!" I could hear grunting and groaning. Gunshots rang in my ears and I shook. They'd found her out, I thought, horrified. They were going to kill her!

"Mr. Logan--" I began, but was cut off by Magneto.

"She'll be fine," he said.

I looked away from them and my eyes wondered. Bobby winched as he heard the sound of gunshots, Marie holding his arm. Mr. Wagner had bowed his head, muttering something, most likely a prayer as he thumbed his rosary and John just sat in silence. I shook my head and listened on.

"We have a metemorph loose," said a very, very familiar voice and my inside ran cold. Stryker. I could never forget the sound of his voice. "Could be anybody." Something that sounded like an object hitting someone's head and then a loud grunt echoed. Static and then, "I'm in."

"She's good," Mr. Logan said and I turned my attention towards him.

"You have no idea," Magneto smiled proudly.

"She made it?" Marie asked, walking up behind them to get a look over their shoulder, which was near impossible because she was just as tall as I was, maybe a bit taller, but still. "That was fast," she whispered to Bobby, who had followed her.

Ms. Munroe stood from her seat and took off her head-set and gave everyone a long look. "Here we go," she announced and then turned her attention to Marie. "Remember what I told you, okay?"

The younger girl nodded and we all watched as they left the plane, but before they left, I stood from my seat. "Please, be careful." I looked at Dr. Grey. "I have a bad feeling about this."

No one said anything, but they exchanged looks on their way down. I fell back in my seat, a knot forming in the pit of my stomach.

It wasn't long before they reached the base. John had walked over to the control area and turned on the radio so that we could, at least, hear what was going on. No one really complained and I didn't know whether to be glad to know what was going on or if I should turn it off.

I didn't move from my seat.

They were talking and soon decided to split up to save time. Ms. Monroe, along with Mr. Wagner, went after the kids who were in a holding cell one floor below. Mystique and Magneto were accompanied by Dr. Grey who were on their way to Cerebro and to find the Professor and Mr. Summers. While, Mr. Logan had decided to wander off on his own.

Stupid, I thought, angrily. Don't do anything stupid. Don't go after Stryker.

A suddenly blast jolts us all, making me jump and then a loud voice shouted, "Go! I'll take care of him!" It was Dr. Grey. "Scott? Scott!" There was another explosion and then…static.

We sat in silence, on the edge of our seats as we mulled over what was happening.

"That's it," John said, closing his lighter. The rest of us looked at him in confusion as he reached between Bobby and Marie to press a button and the ramp descended. He quickly grabbed his jacked and made his way towards it.

"Whoa," Bobby jumped from his seat and jogged after him. Marie followed. "Where do you think you're going?"

"I'm sick of this kids table shit," he said, putting on his jacket. "I'm going in there."

"John, they told us to stay here," Marie said, uncomfortable by his notion of going and a tad bit upset that he even considered going against Mr. Logan's demand.

Looking over his shoulder, John asked her, "Do you always do as your told?"

"Don't be stupid!" I told him, standing up as well. "You don't have a uniform. You'll freeze before you make it to the spillway," I said, arguing why he shouldn't go.

"Will I?" He asked, holding out his lighter. I suppose that meant he could keep himself warm for a while.

"John…"

He gave me a hard stare before he winked and walked down the ramp. Marie looked over her shoulder, towards the ascension control button and I knew what she was thinking. No one said anything for a long time and, against my better judgment, I grabbed my coat and began to follow him.

"What are you doing?" Bobby asked, grabbing my arm.

"I'm going after him," I said, pulling away. "I'll try to put some common sense in his head. I'll be back."

Slowly making my way down the ramp, holding on tightly to the banister, I realized just how cold it was and shivered. When my shoes finally touched the snowy ground, I looked back at the jet and, taking a deep breath, I followed John's footprints in the snow and was surprised by how far he had gotten in such a small amount of time. I knew what I was doing was stupid and incredibly dangerous. If I did come face to face with Stryker, I wouldn't be able to fight him off. I had a broken arm and a bad leg, but the chances of seeing him were slim.

"_You could still go back_," Voice said, sounding angry.

I shook my head. "Can't let him go. He'll be killed."

"_It's his choice_." It said.

"And this is mine."

"_Why do you have to be so damn stubborn?! "_

I didn't reply and eventually I caught up to John. His back was hunched, hands tucked in his pockets. I shouted for him before he got to far. "John!"

Hearing me, he stopped and looked over his shoulder and I could see the startled look on his face. It quickly vanished though, when I got close to him. "What are you doing here?" He asked, confused.

"I came to stop you," I told him, grabbing his arm and pulling him to me. "Please, let's go back to the jet. You don't know what you're doing."

It was the wrong thing to have said because I felt that I'd bruised his pride a little. He shook his head, "No, you go back," and turned to walk away.

"Please, don't go," I said, loudly enough for him to hear. He stopped dead in his tracks and looked over his shoulder again, confused. "Please don't go," I repeated. "Don't go with them."

"What are you talking about?" He asked, turning his whole body around and walked towards me. He looked genuinely confused about what I was talking about.

"I know, okay." I finally said, looking him in the eye. I always had trouble doing that, but found that when I really needed to, I could. "I know that what Magneto--" his face expression changed at the mention of the older mutants name. "--Said made you feel important and you are, but you don't need to go with them to prove that," I said, taking his hand. "Please. Don't. Go."

His gaze went to our hands. He felt guilty, but didn't show it and wouldn't be backing down. "I don't belong to the X-Men," he said, flatly.

"So?" I asked, shaking my head in disbelief. "You don't have to belong to them!" I almost shouted. I could feel that what I was saying wasn't helping very much, but I had to try. "You could belong to me," I added silently, surprised by what I had just said and apparently he was too. I didn't know where this bravery was coming from. Maybe it was because I didn't want him to go. He'd been such a good friend to me these last couple of days, it was almost safe to say he'd quickly become like a best friend and I really didn't want to loose him to them.

"What?"

"Stay," I said, squeezing his hand. "Stay with me."

John opened his mouth to say something, but quickly shut it and we stood in silence for a good while before either of us said or did anything. There was so much mixed feelings coming from him. I couldn't tell any of them apart and then suddenly he took a step towards me, eyes never leaving mine as he placed his hand on the side of my neck and pulled me towards him until our lips met and I swear I saw stars.

It wasn't my first kiss, wasn't even my second or third. No, that first kiss had been given away to some boy, I could hardly remember now. It had been sloppy and messy. This kiss was different from the other kisses I had ever received. It felt almost desperate, a need for me to understand. I wasn't sure how long it lasted, but when he pulled away, we were both gasping for air and my head was spinning.

"Come with me," he said, forehead pressed against mine.

I shook my head. "I wouldn't last very long with them." I told him, truthfully. "Please don't go," I asked him one last time. "You don't--" a cold shudder went through me causing me to stop mid-sentence.

"What's wrong?" John asked, concerned.

I felt my eyes grow wide as they met his. "Something's wrong," I said, shaking. I blinked. "Don't you feel it? Something's coming. Something-- AHH!"

I screamed in distress, letting go of John as a loud humming sound filled my ears. I lifted my hands to my head and pressed them against my throbbing temple as I fell to my knees. John followed after and I could hear him groaning as he rolled around in the snow. Whatever it was I was feeling, he could feel it to, I resolved.

It was painful, the humming. And it was accompanied by loud screaming in my head and when I closed my eyes I could see bursts of colors and images of people screaming. Hundreds, thousands, maybe millions of people screaming in pain and it was unbearable. I could hardly breathe, my sobs were causing me to choke on my own spit and my head felt like it was going to explode at any minute.

"Stop," I cried, holding my head tighter. I had squeezed my eyes shut, hoping to block out the world. Whatever it was that was going on, there were others, not just John and myself, who were being attacked by it. Far more and I could see them all, in my head. "Stop!" I shouted and, much to my surprise, it did, but I could still feel the pain.

"What the hell was that?" John asked, out of the breathe and unsettled. From my spot on the ground, I watched as he struggled to stand and his fear was so vivid, it was almost like I was feeling it myself. "Carolina?" He asked, bending down to touch my shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" I screamed and flinched away from him.

"Hey, hey. It's okay. It's me."

"I could feel them," I told him, sobbing lightly. I hadn't removed my hands from my head. "In my head, screaming."

"What?" He asked, face contorted in confusion.

"Screaming in my head," I repeated, through I knew I was barely making sense to him and then the humming started again, only this time John wasn't affected by it like I was. "AH!" I screamed. There were just so many emotions hitting me from left and right.

"_Shhh, shhh. You're okay. It's okay, you'll see. It'll pass, just keep breathing. You'll be fine."_

"What's happening to me?" I asked Voice, still sobbing and screaming. It was hard to stay calm with the assault to my brain.

"_It's Cerebro_," V said. "_They targeted Mutants first, now humans_, _but you're not safe. You're an Empath, you'll feel everything."_

"Gah!" I groaned, turning over to my side and curling up into a ball.

"What's wrong?" He asked, shouting over my screams to be heard. He was hovering over me, afraid of whatever it was that was happening.

"Ow, my head!" I cried through gritted teeth and teary eyes. It felt like someone was drilling a hole in the back of my head and was picking at my brains. Through the unbearable pain, John grabbed me and pulled me towards him. I could feel my eyes rolling into the back of my head as my body jerked and back arched forward when a shock of pain made its way to my head. I had barely noticed him pulling me into a tight hug to try and ease the pain. "It hurts," I told him, grabbing his jacket. "I can feel--I can feel everything!"

He pressed his lips against mine suddenly, I almost hadn't registered it. If my back wasn't so numb and my head didn't feel like it was going to explode, I would have enjoyed the kiss more. I could feel that he was trying to distract me from the pain, sadly it wasn't working.

"I'll come back for you," he promised pulling away.

No, you wont, I added silently. He began to shrug off his jacket, but I shook my head, "Don't."

"You'll freeze."

"So will you."

"Fine," he said, slipping it back on. He was upset that I had rejected his jacket and with one last fleeting look, he took off and only looked back once before he completely disappeared from my sight and I couldn't help but feel betrayed.

After another eternity, the humming stopped, but I was still in a lot of pain. I could still feel and hear the screaming as it lingered in my head a little longer.

I'm going to die here, I thought, helplessly. If I didn't freeze to death then the emotions and thoughts scattered in my head would do it. It'd never hurt this bad before, not because of my empathy. With a wince, I turned on my side and curled up into a ball, hoping to keep myself warm. I couldn't stop shaking, teeth chattering and I felt so tired, so sleepy.

I had read somewhere that freezing to death was almost like falling asleep…

_Don't you dare fall asleep! _Voice shouted in my head, adding to the pain. _Someone is coming for you!_

"No one's coming for me," I said, tiredly, shutting my eyes. "No one… and I'm… okay with that?" My words were becoming slurred and I felt bad and upset that I hadn't been able to talk to Gwen and Owen one last time.


	15. The End is The Beginning

**Chapter Fifteen:  
**The End is The Beginning

* * *

"Carolina?"

My eyes snapped open at the sound of my name being whispered and an image of a red headed woman appeared in the darkness. I had only closed my eyes for, what seemed like, a couple of seconds before I heard her calling out to me. "Dr. Grey?" I asked, teeth chattering away and I tried to move but found that my lower body had gone numb. I supposed that my eyes had been closed longer than seconds. "I can't--"

"Hang in there, sweetie," she said, cutting me off and I was somewhat shocked that I was hearing her instead of Voice. Was I going crazy, or could I actually hear her? "Someone's coming for you."

A beat.

_Bamf. _"My God," a voice said and then quickly muttered something in a language I didn't understand. I felt hands grabbing at my shoulder, turning me over onto my back and a jolt that made my body convulse. I gritted my teeth in pain and held in the scream. "Carolina?"

"M- Mr. Wagner?" I stuttered, stupidly. Someone had actually come for me. I almost laughed in relief. Someone had actually come for me!

Bending down to lift me towards him, I took the chance to wrap my arms around his neck in a hug and started to cry a little. My face was already blotchy from all the screaming and sobbing I had done, I didn't care what I looked like anymore. I just wanted someone to comfort me, tell me that everything was going to be okay.

"You are safe now," he said, pulling me closer to him. His heart was beating fast and I could feel his discomfort at being so close to me, but was grateful he didn't try to move away. He was more concerned for my well being and that was stronger than anything else. "It will be all right," he told me. "This will not hurt," and suddenly we were lost in a cloud of swirl-y blue smoke that smelled of brimstone. I shut my eyes, inhaling sharply and willed myself not to throw up at the strange sensation, the detachment and tightened my hold on him as I waited for the world to stop spinning.

"Oh my God!" Several voice shouted at once, along with a couple of surprised screams. I opened my eyes, slowly and found that I was back in the jet and was sort of surrounded by half a dozen kids, who were all looking on in interest.

"Kids, back in your seat," Ms. Monroe ordered in a gentle, but hurried voice. They all did as she said. "Rogue, grab some blankets."

In less than a minute, Marie appeared over me with her arms full of blankets and began wrapping them around me. I was still cold and wet, but the blankets were helping some.

"Any longer out 'ere and she might have frozen to death," Mr. Wager said, yellow eyes staring at me. Realizing that I was still holding on to him tightly, I loosened my grip, but didn't pull myself away from him just yet.

"Bobby," Marie called out, looking over her shoulder for her boyfriend, who was getting a couple of the kids settled in their seats, but when he heard her call, rushed towards us. She turned back to Mr. Wagner and placed a hand on his shoulder. "It's okay, Kurt. We've got it from here, thanks."

Mr. Wagner bowed his head in acceptance and began to stand up. I let go of his completely and Bobby took his place, but fore he was out of reach, I grabbed his arm. "T-thank you." He nodded, acknowledging my thanks and smiled as he walked up front to join the other adults.

"It was stupid to go out there," Bobby scolded. "How do you feel?" He asked and I could feel his concern and tried not to dwell on it very much. It was giving me an even bigger headache.

"C-cold," I muttered, noticing that all of the adults were crowded up front at the controls. There were also two new adults. A man with funky looking sunglasses, who I assumed must have been Dr. Grey's fiancé, and a bald man. "I-is that…?"

"Yeah," Marie answered, barely giving the man a glance as she was busy drying my hair. "That's the Professor."

I nodded, understandingly and when they were done trying to get me warm, they helped me into the seat beside Professor Xavier and sat down as well. I turned to the older man, feeling a little bit uncomfortable. He wasn't what I had been expecting, but than again, no one had really said anything about him, other than his name.

Feeling my stare, he turned his head to look at me and gave me a reassuring smile. I returned it and quickly looked away. I let my eyes scan my surroundings and I realized that someone was missing. Mr. Logan.

Oh, no, I thought. Where is he, why isn't he here? Did Striker get him?

"Where--?"

And just as I was about to ask, Mr. Logan jogged up the ramp, sweating and carrying a smaller boy in his arms. I sighed in relief. "Bobby," he called out to the younger mutant.

"I got 'im," he said, taking the small boy off his hands and sitting him down beside the other kids.

I watched as Mr. Logan rushed towards Dr. Grey. They were both so relieved to find the other alive and well. "You okay?" She asked, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder.

He gave her a long look and flashed her a brief smile, "I am now." He turned towards the cockpit and asked, "What's wrong?" When he realized we weren't taking off yet.

"Vertical thrusters are off-line," Mr. Summers said, hands working fast from what I could see.

"So fix 'em," Mr. Logan told him, impatiently.

"I'm trying," he stated, irritated by the other man.

"Has anyone seen John?" Marie asked out of the blue, turning around in her seat. "Did you find him?" She asked but I didn't respond. I stunk down in my seat, dropping my gaze to my lap. I felt guilty for letting him go. I could have done more to stop him.

"_You did your best."_

"Pyro?" Mr. Logan asked, looking over his shoulder. "Where the hell is he?"

"He's with Magneto," came the reply and I was mildly surprised it was Dr. Grey who answered. She turned over her shoulder to look at me and I could feel the sadness coming from her. She knew, I realized. She knew that he left on his own accord and that I had tried.

Everyone went extremely silent after the announcement and exchanged uneasy glances. There was confusion in everyone and I could feel the questions burning in them.

I rubbed my temple, feeling a tightness.

"Come on!" Mr. Summers grunted in frustration and I heard a loud bang.

"Oh, no," Ms. Monroe said, voice soft and worried. Her fear was rising by the second.

"There's power in the fuel cells, we're just not connecting." Mr. Summer explained.

"Okay I've--"

"Ahhh!" I exclaimed as a low humming filled my head. I gritted my teeth and closed my eyes tightly. "Ahhh. Ow," I cried when I felt a hand on my shoulder.

"Shhh, it's okay," recognizing the voice as being Dr. Grey's, I opened my eyes and loosened my grip on the armrests. She was kneeling beside me, hands smoothing my hair back and out of my face. "It's going to be okay. I promise."

"My. Head," I told her. "Is. Killing. Me."

"I know," she nodded. "And I'm sorry." I didn't give much thought to what she was saying, barely noticed that I was getting a few strange stares.

The humming grew louder, drowning everything out and I shut my eyes again. I leaned forward so far my head was nearly between my knees. I tried very hard to keep my breathing even and tried not to panic, but felt like I wanted to scream. It felt like someone had opened a door in my head and it couldn't be closed, everything was coming in and nothing was being filtered. I felt everything. Every emotion. I could almost feel what people were thinking. It was awful.

Suddenly there was an ache in my heart and a realization that everyone was going to die if I didn't so something about it. I grabbing a fistful of my hair. It wasn't my thought. I knew that it wasn't mine, but… who's was it?

"Jean?"

I sat up, slowly, mind still filled with humming. Everyone was turned around, searching. "Wait, where's Jean?" Mr. Logan asked, looking around with wild eyes.

"She's outside," Professor Xavier announced, distressed.

Mr. Summer shot up from his seat and pushed his way through Mr. Wagner and Mr. Logan as he rushed towards the ramp. It closed just as he reached it. Suddenly everything seemed to turn back on. "No!" He shouted, turning around to face the others. "We're not leaving. Lower the ramp!" He demanded, pointing towards it in anger and desperation. "Storm lower it!" He shouted again.

"I can't" she replied, troubled and nervous because she didn't know what to do, but she didn't give up. She kept trying to get it open. She wasn't going to let her friend die.

Something was wrong. Something was very wrong. I could… feel it and then the jet shook, sending, those who were standing up, crashing against one another. I looked up, towards the windshield of the plane and was startled to see a massive wave of water heading straight for us and then divide just as it got near.

"She's controlling the jet," Ms. Monroe called out.

"That's not all she's controlling," I added, but no one seemed to hear me but Bobby, who turned around when I spoke up. I grabbed my head again and concentrated as hard as I could and I felt a very strong sense of loss and this darkness, evil and untamed…. I opened my eyes, mouth hanging open.

"You," Mr. Logan shouted, desperately at Mr. Wagner. "Get her, now!"

He flickered. "She's not letting me," he said, sadly.

"I know what I'm doing," Professor Xavier began. His eyes were closed, face contorted with confusion and concentration. "This is the only way."

Everyone turned their attention to him. Mr. Summer, clearly distraught, (you didn't have to be an Empath to feel it, it was so strong) pushed his way towards the man and sunk to his knees. "Jean, listen to me," he said and I finally understood that it was Dr. Grey who was speaking through the older man. "Don't do this," he begged, voice breaking as was his heart.

"Goodbye," he whispered her words and sighed.

Mr. Logan shook his head, "Oh, no! No!"

"No, no!" Mr. Summer echoed Mr. Logan and stood up as the jet began to lift off the ground, away from the water and the sun came out from behind the clouds. I could hear the sound of rushing water and then nothing.

No one said anything for the longest time and then, "She's gone," Mr. Logan said in disbelief and I could feel his heart breaking. I grabbed at my chest. "She's gone," he repeated, blinking.

Suddenly, Mr. Summer launched himself at the other man and began hitting him with his fists. "Don't. You. Say that," he shouted, struggling with him. "We gotta go back," he said, voice breaking and looking a lot less strong.

"She's gone," Mr. Logan repeated, pushing the man away and held him by the shoulders.

"No!" He shouted again, trying to shove the other man's hands away from him. "No." Everyone watched in silence as Mr. Summer broke down in Mr. Logan's arms and sobbed against his chest.

"She's gone," Mr. Logan said, brokenly. "She's gone. She's-- she's gone."

Unable to watch two grown men cry, especially not the one I held so much admiration for, I turned away respectfully. I had never felt such sadness before. The feeling of wanting to die. I closed my eyes and tried not to let myself drown in everyone's emotions but it was too much

"The lord is my Shepard," Mr. Wagner began, saying a prayer out loud. "I shall not want. He maketh me to lie down in the green pastures. Yea, though I walk through the valley of the shadow of the death, I shall fear no evil… for thou art with me."

Unable to keep it inside anymore, a sob escaped my lips and I grabbed my head. The loss of a loved one was never easy. Feeling the loss that someone else felt for a loved one was even harder because one could not control what that person felt and it was dangerous for me. There was always something keeping them from hurting themselves, occasionally, but the same couldn't be said for me. Too much could drive me crazy. I didn't want to be crazy anymore.

My heart felt broken and it was almost like I couldn't breath.

Suddenly I felt arms wrapping around me. From the corner of my eye, I could see white and dark hair mixed together. Marie had gotten up from her seat when she heard me cry. "This is wrong," I whispered to her as I pulled away, shaking my head slightly and she looked at me in confusion. She couldn't tell what I was talking about. "I don't even know if when I'm feeling is real."

Marie's eyes watered and her bottom lip trembled, understandingly and she pulled me in for another hug as a whole new wave of unbearable sadness washed over me and I sobbed harder.

X . X . X . X . X . X . X

"Hmm-mm… hmm-mm… hush-a-bye, don't you cry," I whispered, staring off into space as I played with the edges of the blankets covering me. I wasn't cold anymore. Not, really. I felt warm and could almost feel the beads of sweat forming on my brow. "Go to sleepy little baby…. When you wake, you will have cake," my voice hitched a little. "And all the pretty little horses…. Hmm-mm…."

It was strange, and a little silly, how a simple lullaby had power over me. Calli used to sing it to Michael when he was a little kid, and he, in turn, tired to sing it to me. Of course, back then, I wasn't much for lullabies, told him that I wasn't a baby and that he might as well sing it to Irene. He did and she seemed to enjoy it a lot, especially that particular song. Irene and I shared a room, growing up, so when Michael sang to her at night I would stay up and listen too. He had a lovely voice, but I swore to myself that I'd never admit that to him. His voice had a way of soothing people, especially little Irene when she would get distressed over something. It calmed me down too. My theory now is that, it could have been that when Irene got worked up I did too because, even then, I was being hinted at my Empathy ability. Of course it was only a theory.

"And all the pretty little horses," I repeated, voice low and eyes staring at nothing. I hated silence, but had begun to realize that it was bliss as the noise in my head quieted.

The humming had stopped, at least, for now. Everyone had gone quiet with the exception of a few sniffles here and there. I could still feel that unbearable sadness in my heart and wondered if it would stay with me forever. I hadn't known Dr. Grey for long, I shouldn't have felt this sad, I reasoned but, in the short amount of time that I had, I thought I had finally found someone to trust, despite her telling Mr. Logan my past before I wanted to. She had cleaned me up, listened to me and had promised to help, but she couldn't now. She was dead and wasn't coming back.

Dr. Grey died an hour and a half ago, but, funny thing is, I could still feel her like she was near.

"You have quite a gift," came a voice from beside me, bringing me out of my thoughts. The remark was strangely familiar and I realized that it almost matched the words Magneto had said to John. John, I thought with a new sadness. Why'd you have to go?

Lazily, I turned my gaze to Professor Xavier. "What?"

"Empathy," he said, turning away. I wasn't sure why, but it sort of annoyed me that he turned away while we were speaking to one another. "It's an incredible ability. Makes you feel closer to others, bonds you."

I frowned at his profile. He thought my ability was a gift? "Some gift," I almost snorted. "Drives me crazy. Makes me crazy," I told him with narrowed eyes and suddenly I wondered where all this anger was coming from. I didn't have a reason to be upset with the man sitting beside me. I barely knew him. Correction, I didn't know him. Not properly.

He smiled softly and returned his gaze to me. "I know," he nodded, eyes filled with sadness. My gaze softened. The loss of Jean Grey was almost stronger in him than in the rest, which surprised me. He must have known her longer. "I did."

"Are you a mind reader?"

He nodded, "Among other things."

Hmm. It was my turn to look away. "You're not what I expected," I told him, even though I had meant to keep it to myself, but what good was it to think about it when he could hear me anyway? But I hadn't meant for it to come out so rudely, hopefully he'd see that and not be insulted.

"And what were you expecting?" There was a tinge of amusement and curiosity in his voice and I could feel that tiny spark of offense, but he seemed to understand.

I looked down at my hands, twisting them together in nervousness. "I don't know," I shrugged, slowly looking back at him. "So, where are we going?" I asked, hoping to change the subject. I really didn't like where it was going. I didn't want to insult the one man who could actually help me.

"Washington D.C." he said, following my lead. "There's something that needs to be taken care of before it gets to a point of no return."

"Is everyone going?" I wondered out loud, chewing the inside of my lip. He nodded as a response. "Including me?"

"If you're up for it," he said, smiling reassuringly.

I swallowed, gaze turning way from him. I let my eyes wander around, looking at the back of everyone's heads, until they landed on a certain someone. "If Mr. Summer can do it," I began quietly. "I don't see why I cant." And the conversation ended there and a couple of hours later, we had reached D.C.

"I know that we've all suffered an incredible loss today," Professor Xavier began after the jet had landed and the rest of us -Marie, Bobby, Mr. Wagner and I - suited up. I struggled with my uniform until Ms. Munroe offered to help. When she was done, I looked down at myself and felt strange. "But this is something that must be taken care as soon as possible with much delicacy," the Professor continued. "The fate of all mutants rest in our hands."

From what I had gathered the President was going to be addressing the Nation about a supposed threat he was informed of by a man named William Stryker. An anger I didn't recognize, burned within me at the news, and I felt a drop of pity and disgust. Apparently, he'd found out about the school and handed the information over to the President, who was going to be exposing us all. I shuddered at the thought. Everyone would know about us. The news would spread across the world like wildflower and no where would be safe for us. We wouldn't be able to run or hide. They'd chase us down where ever we went. I didn't even want to think about it.

Instead I focused on how we would be getting into the white without anyone noticing. I mean, who wouldn't notice a large group of people dressed in strange close approaching the freaking White House?!

Mr. Logan stayed behind as everyone exited the jet to help me down the ramp. I could feel the thoughts running through his head and suddenly I didn't want to be near him. He thought that I should have stayed behind. I looked up at him briefly and he looked down at me when he sensed my gaze. I turned away quickly and when I did, I realized something else.

The questioned that I'd wondered about before had just been answered. We were going to get it without being noticed because time had stopped.

It was incredible. People who were standing outside of the fence, from what I could see, weren't moving. Cars were stuck in place. Birds hovered in the sky, above our heads, but didn't go anywhere. It was like… they were frozen in place. Like time had stopped.

"Among other things," Professor Xavier said from behind me. I craned my neck to look at him. My brows shot up in awe as a realization hit me, he was doing all this. He had caused everything to stop. How cool was that? I thought with childish excitement. He was powerful. He may not have looked it, being in the wheel chair and all, but he was.

This, I thought, was what I had expected.

Everything inside of the White House (and I couldn't believe that I was actually standing in the foyer) was the same as outside. Frozen. There were people everywhere, mostly Secret Service, but no one was moving. They were all stuck in a moment in time and I wondered if they would even notice what had happened. Probably not.

It wasn't long before we were standing in front of the Oval Office. When we entered, the room was crowded with more than a dozen people and I felt a little unnerved. They reminded me of mannequins that one would find in a store, dressed up and unmoving. It was weird.

The president was sitting at his desk, staring at a teleprompter. He wasn't moving either, but once we had taken our spots, the Professor gave the word and suddenly the sky was growing darker, causing the room to appear almost pitch black. There was a storm brewing outside. The only thing illuminating it was the lightening which was accompanied by booming thunder. I jumped. Eyes darting towards Ms. Monroe. Her eyes had gone completely white and she was pleased by the storm she was creating. It matched everyone's mood.

And then, the President began to move. He turned to look over his shoulder and I could feel his confusion about the sudden change of weather. Then he turned to where we were standing and when the sky lit up with lightening, I felt a shock coursing through my body and the sudden urge to run.

"Good morning, Mr. President," Professor Xavier greeted him professionally, voice smooth and calm. I wanted to laugh. It was ridiculous. The President stood from his seat, eyes darting around in shock by our sudden appearance and we took a step forward. "Please, don't be alarmed. We're not here to harm you."

The President, however, thought differently. "Who are you people?" He asked, though he knew who were but didn't want to admit it out loud.

I could feel this fear and indignation rising in him as his eyes landed on a certain someone. Mr. Wagner. He was perched on a high shelf in a corner of the office, looking down at us. He waved when he saw that McKenna was staring at him. I shut my eyes for a second, trying not to allow his panic to take over me. I was already dealing with everyone else's pain and anger, it was a miracle that I could even think properly. I didn't need him adding anymore.

"We're mutants," the Professor said, stating the obvious. "My name is Charles Xavier. Please sit down," he suggested.

"I'd rather stand," he responded, voice hard. I could feel his defiance. He was the President, damnit! He shouldn't be told what to do, he wasn't a child!

I shook my head, scratching my scalp when I felt a sort of tingle. It didn't hurt, but it was annoying as hell.

"Rogue," Professor Xavier said and she stepped forward from behind him. She was holding a folder in her hand and set it on the table in front of us.

The President quickly picked it up, and frowned at it as he opened it up and started flipping through the pages.

"These are files from the private offices of William Stryker," the Professor explained, seeming to pick up on the other man's confusion as I had. I shuddered at the mention of Stryker and wondered if I would always be haunted by his name and what he did to me and several others.

Mr. Logan tightened his grip on me, trying to keep me from shaking and to comfort me in his own way, but I could still feel his thoughts. I didn't like knowing what he was thinking. It was awful.

"Where did you get this?" He asked, eyes still scanning pages.

"Well," the Professor bowed his head and slightly smiled in secret. "Let's just say I know a little girl who can walk through walls." Kitty Pryde, I thought, wearily. Shadowcat, she had said her nickname was, but in my mind I had already dubbed her as Ghost Girl when she walked into my room. That felt like such a lifetime ago when it was only a couple of days.

The President wasn't amused and his eyes darted to Mr. Wagner. He sat down, taking in all the information that had been given to him and shook his head. "I've never seen these before," he said and I could sense that he was telling the truth. How long had Stryker been keeping this from him?

I shook my head, this time, a little more forceful then before. The strange sensation from earlier had returned, only this time, it was stronger and there was humming. It was low, but I could hear it. Oh, God. Please, not now. Not now.

"I know."

"Then you also know I don't respond well to threats."

"This isn't a threat, Mr. President," Professor Xavier said, voice still soothing but firm.

Don't sound condescending, Charles, tell him straight. Don't beat around the bush. He has to know. Tell him. Tell him.

I blinked, bowing my head slightly. I could feel my breathing becoming uneven. Those thoughts. It was like I was thinking them, but they weren't mine and the sadness in my heart grew stronger, making it hard for me to breathe.

"This is an opportunity. There are forces in this world both humans and mutants alike, who believe that a war is coming." A cold shudder suddenly went through me, but I stood up straight and acted like nothing was going on. Had to remain strong, couldn't show weakness in front of the President. "You will see from those files some have already tried to start one and there have been causalities, losses on both sides." He wheeled himself forward. "Mr. President what you are about to tell the world is true. This is the moment. A moment to repeat the mistakes of the past or to work together for a better future. We're here to stay, Mr. President. The next move is yours."

"We'll be watching." Mr. Logan said as the light illuminate the room, adding the dramatic effect and suddenly the President wasn't moving anymore and the sky cleared.

I barely had the chance to admire the sun when a I felt something hit me hard and knocked the air out of me. "Oww!" I cried, holding my head to keep it from exploding. The room began to spin and I had to close my eyes to keep from getting dizzy but it wasn't helping any. Spots began to appear behind my eyelids and danced all around, beautiful and colorful.

"Gypsy," a voice shouted, grabbing me roughly by my arms. I opened my eyes to see Mr. Logan standing in front me. "Gypsy," he repeated, shaking me back in to existence.

I grabbed at him, desperately. The screaming in my head, growing louder and louder. So much sadness and anger. Please, don't be angry. It wasn't your fault. Things happen in life that can't be stopped. Please, don't be hurt. "Stop thinking," I shouted, trying to push away but he didn't bulge. "Shut up! Stop feeling," I roared, knees going weak and I fell to the floor.

Mr. Logan followed. "What's wrong with her?!" He shouted, trying to pick me back up.

"Dark Cerebro," Professor Xavier explained. "I'm afraid that it did more damage to her than I thou--"

What's wrong with her? Is she okay? Oh, God. What's happening?!

With all the willpower I had left, I opened my eyes and found that everyone was holding on to their head, face contorted in pain. From what I could see, Marie was on the floor, withering. Bobby was kneeled down beside her in pain as well. I couldn't see Ms. Monroe. Mr. Summer or Mr. Wagner, but I could sense they were in pain too. The only people that didn't seem effected by whatever the hell was going on were the people that were frozen in time.

"Carolina, you must stop," Professor Xavier said, grimacing. He was fighting whatever was happening.

"I'm not doing anything!" I shouted, desperately, letting go Mr. Logan. He was trying to fight it too, but was unsuccessful in doing so.

"You. Must. Stop." He repeated and I realized what he was trying to say. I was causing this, all this pain. It could kill them, I thought. If I didn't stop it, they could die.

"Kill me!" I shouted turning to Mr. Logan, who looked at me in bewilderment. "Its--it's the only way. I--I can't stop it."

"_Are you crazy?!" _Voice shouted, sounding hysterical. "_No!"_

"Carolina, no!" Ms. Monroe shouted from her spot on the floor.

Mr. Logan shook his head, "Ain't… gonna…happen, kid!"

"Please," I shouted, crying now. This pain was becoming unbearable by the second and if he didn't do something, I was going to find another way. "It's…the only way." He shook his head again, arms falling to his side. "Please," I sobbed, the pain was killing me anyway. What I was asking him to do was a mercy killing, there was nothing wrong with putting me out of my misery. "Please," I whispered, hot tears rolling down my cheeks as my temple throbbed harder. "Please."

Mr. Logan moved towards me, an apologetic look on his face as he raised his fist and punched me in the face. It was the last thing I saw before things went dark and blissfully quiet.

* * *

**A/N:** Big thanks to everyone for putting up with the re-write. I feel a lot better now that it's over with. And as promised here's the summary of Gypsy's Curse, which should be out soon!

**Gypsy's Curse:** Six months after the events of Alkali Lake and Carolina is still suffering from aftershocks caused by Dark Cerebro. And while Wolverine, Storm and her friends strive to keep her sanity in check, Professor Xavier begins to teach her how to control her growing powers, but with the possibility of a cure on the horizon Carolina must choose whether to keep her power of empathy and giving up a life she's always known for one that she's always wanted but could never have.


End file.
